"Lex. Lex, wake up."
Lexus was startled awake by Ashton's frantic yelling. A quick glance around the room was enough to explain exactly why her brother was shouting at her. He was standing over by the window - one of the towels from the bathroom in his hands - trying to put out the flames that were licking up the room's curtains.
"I'm sorry." She cried out, her eyes widening as she watched Ashton try to stop the flames from spreading.
"It's not your fault Lex, you can't control it. Just come and help me." Ashton quickly shot her a sympathetic look before he turned back towards the wall.
Lexus clambered out of the bed and ran over to join Ashton by the window. She grabbed hold of her brother's arm and pulled him out of the way before she stuck out her hands and closed her eyes so she could really focus. A few moments later water doused the flames and she heard Ashton let out a sigh of relief.
"We've got to get out of here." Ashton muttered, mostly to himself, as he took a seat on the edge of the bed.
Lexus fell down into the space beside him and placed her head on his shoulder. Ashton wrapped an arm around her and pulled her closer in an awkward sort of side hug that was probably meant to be comforting.
"I'm sorry." She repeated. "I wish I wasn't like this, I wish I was normal."
Ever since she was young Lexus had known that she wasn't like everyone else. Strange things always seemed to be happening around her; freak storms, unexplainable fire, and one time there was even a miniature cyclone.
Ashton was the one who figured out that the so called accidents were actually being caused by Lexus. He was a couple of years older than her and around her fourteenth birthday he seemed to put two and two together. It took a little longer for the two of them to work out that her emotions played a large part in controlling it.
As far as they both knew there was no specific term to describe what it was that Lexus could do, Ashton just kept saying that she could manipulate the elements. For a while Ashton tried to help her hide and control it, but then 'The Incident' occurred.
'The Incident', as they both referred, to it, was an argument that had gone very very wrong. Their parents had been yelling at Lexus about a grade on her school report and their dad had just taken it too far. Lexus hadn't meant for it to happen, but she'd accidentally set the kitchen on fire. Ashton tried to get her out of the room as soon as possible but he wasn't fast enough and Lexus still heard her mother calling her an abomination.
Things had been sort of rough since then; her parents had avoided her as if she had the plague and they even tried to have her committed at one point. Not long after that Ashton turned eighteen and when he left home he took Lexus with him. That was nearly a year ago, Ashton was now nineteen while Lexus had just celebrated her seventeenth birthday a few weeks ago.
Ashton had enough money saved up from his part time job that they could survive but it often meant crashing on some friends couch or scrounging up enough to get a room in a motel for a few nights (it also meant that Lexus hadn't been to school in a while but she wasn't exactly complaining). Whenever something like that happened, and Lexus lost control of her powers, they'd pack up and move on (Ashton kept mentioning that they couldn't afford to have people knowing what Lexus could do), piling what little personal belongings they had into Ashton's shitty car and finding somewhere new to settle down for a little while.
"Don't say that, okay?" Ashton squeezed her a little tighter. "What were you dreaming about?"
"I don't even remember." Lexus replied, rubbing at her eyes.
It wasn't a total lie. Lexus actually couldn't remember what had happened in her dream; but she could remember how scared she'd felt, how helpless. It had been a while since she'd accidentally made something happen while she was asleep so she knew that whatever it was must have been pretty bad.
Ashton nodded his head, got up, and started packing stuff into their suitcases.
This was an all too familiar routine by now; Ashton would pack up their things while Lexus moped around, and they'd get in the car and drive. Sometimes they only went as far as the next town over, other times they didn't stop until they were in a new state. Ashton had a lot of friends all over the country (Lexus didn't know how he knew them all but she trusted Ashton enough that she didn't feel the need to ask questions).
"I know this guy who lives, like, a city over. I'll give him a call and see if it's okay if we crash there for a little while." Ashton turned around and smiled at Lexus but she couldn't quite return it.
With that said Ashton pulled out his phone and headed for the bathroom, pulling the door shut behind him. When Ashton was no longer in the room Lexus let out a sigh and dropped her head down into her hands. She hated that she was such a burden on her brother, and she hated that he was too loyal to abandon her.
Ashton could have been at one of the top universities in the country - he sure has hell had the grades for it - and working towards securing a future for himself, but instead he was running with her. As much as she probably wouldn't have been able to survive without him she kind of wished that he'd put himself first for once.
A few moments later Ashton re-emerged from the bathroom and slipped his phone back into the pocket of his jeans before clapping his hands together.
"That's all set, if we leave now we should be able to get there by tomorrow morning." He smiled again and threw the last few things into the suitcases.
Lexus often wondered how Ashton managed to stay so positive throughout everything, then again he wasn't the one always accidentally setting things on fire or flooding rooms.
Ashton nodded to one of the suitcases which was still sitting on the bed and Lexus rolled her eyes before going over to sit on it like she'd done plenty of times before. He let out a small chuckle as her added weight pushed the suitcase down enough for him to finally be able to zip it shut.
"It's gonna be alright, you know." Ashton said, his face uncharacteristically serious. "Everything will work out in the end."
"I'm glad you're so sure." Lexus muttered to herself.
***
One long ass car ride, one McDonald's stop, and numerous sing-alongs later Lexus and Ashton finally reached their destination. Ashton pulled into the driveway and shut off the engine as the porch light flickered to life, alerting them both to the presence of another person.
"You could have at least tried to arrive at a normal time you asshole." Came a Male's voice.
Lexus rubbed at her eyes, trying to get rid of the last of the sleep that had collected there while Ashton jumped out of the car. With a chuckle he made his way over to the other guy and pulled him in for a 'bro-hug'.
"It's good to see you too Jake." He replied.
By the time they had ended their embrace Lexus had gotten out of the car and made her way over to where her brother and his friend were standing. Ashton seemed to remember she was there all of a sudden and pulled her forward so she was standing in front of him.
"Jake, this is my baby sister Lexus." Ashton placed his hands on her shoulders and even though she couldn't see his face she knew that he was smiling.
"I hate it when you call me that." She muttered to Ashton before sticking out her hand so Jake could shake it. "It's nice to meet you, thanks for letting us stay for a few nights."
Lexus was, by nature, quite a shy person but she'd been raised to be polite.
"It's not a problem, you guys are welcome to stay as long as you want to."
Jake and Ashton carried the suitcases inside before Jake showed Lexus to the guest bedroom where she'd be sleeping while they stayed there. It was the most comfortable bed she'd been in in weeks and her head had barely hit the pillow before she fell into a surprisingly peaceful sleep.
A few hours later when she woke up (without having set fire to anything, thank god) Lexus followed the sound of her brother's voice and found him sitting in the kitchen with Jake.
"I'm not sending her away Jake." Ashton sounded slightly angry which was kind of amazing considering it took a lot to make him mad.
Lexus realised that neither of them could see her at that point in time and that was why they were still talking about her as if she wasn't there. She figured there wasn't anything wrong with a little eavesdropping if she was the subject anyway.
"That's not what I'm suggesting mate. It's a school with other people like her where they can train her and teach her how to control her powers. I know you're doing your best but these people actually know what it's like to be gifted."
"But how am I supposed to protect her - "
"You won't have to Ashton, that's the point. She'll be around other kids just like her. She won't have to hide."
Lexus had heard enough so she stepped through the doorway and looked straight at Ashton.
"I want to go Ash." She told him, trying to ignore the hurt look in her brother's eyes. "If there's other people like me I want to know, and if they can stop me from setting things on fire whenever I get scared then that would be amazing."
Jake quietly stood up and walked out of the kitchen, leaving Lexus and Ashton alone to have this conversation. Ashton was torn; he wanted what was best for Lexus and he didn't want to disregard her wishes, but at the same time she was his sister and he wanted to be the one to look out for her.
Lexus wouldn't be swayed though. What she'd said before was true, but doing this also meant that Ashton got a free pass. He could put himself first and not feel guilty about it because it was what Lexus wanted. Sure, she'd miss Ashton, but for Lexus this was the best of both worlds.
"Are you sure?" Lexus was kind of surprised that Ashton wasn't fighting her on this but at the same time she was glad that he wasn't.
She nodded her head and Ashton frowned for a few moments before mimicking her action.
"Alright, I'll look into it." He said, his voice betraying his reluctance.
Lexus shot her brother a genuine smile before she launched herself at him and pulled him in for a hug.
-
here we go again.