Dome

by Bryan Young

  “Why are you so into football?” Carmelita asked. “It seems like it plays a pretty big part in your life. What makes it more than just a hobby?

  Carmelita’s question seemed to act as an emotional trigger as Dallas went silent for a moment, tried to speak, and then was at a loss for words again. He clasped his hands and his leg started twitching, the stress building up inside him until he finally burst out, “I think—” he paused again “—I think that for me, I grew up in a really small town, right? Most of the people where I’m from are either farmers or work in some small family-run business. And they grow up in the same town, doing the same things day in and day out until they have kids to start the cycle over again. And I... I can’t do that. I can’t live my whole life stuck in the same damn town doing the same things that people have done for hundreds of years. I want so much more from life and when I’m on the field—not only winning games but winning awards, getting scouts to come watch me, being recognized by colleges—that’s when I know that I can do something different. I know I have a way out that can allow me to make something of myself and guarantee I don’t waste the only life I have being unhappy.”

  “That’s real deep, man,” Tye said, tapping his chest twice with his fist as a sign of respect. “So, is there a lot of frustration being here and not being on the field?”

  Dallas nodded earnestly and looked around the circle. “You guys have no idea. It’s not just that I’m not there right now. It’s the fact that I’m worried about my whole future being taken away. Everything I’ve worked for could be gone. Even if we survive this, what college or team is gonna want a freak on their roster? A guy they’d have to worry could snap at any time and go on a killing rampage. They’re gonna think I belong in a dungeon, not a football field.”

  “How would they know?” Kato asked.

  Dallas closed his eyes and exhaled deeply before slowly opening them and staring into the flame. “Because.... Because every time I transform into that other version of me, I want to be like that more and more often. It’s like, the more I’m exposed to that, the more it becomes my identity. I can’t explain it and I can’t reason with how I feel, but I know at some point, ‘we’ is going to be ‘him’ and at that point, I’m gonna be fighting tanks not linemen.”

  Unsure of what to say, Tye tossed Dallas the bag of candy and did his best to console him, “Dallas, we’re gonna figure this out. And when we do, we’re all gonna be front row at your first game in the big leagues. Thanks for sharing that.”

  “You got it, boss,” Dallas replied with a smile. “Not to steal your thunder, but can I ask the next person a question? I feel like it’d be fair if the speaker gets to ask, right?”

  “Go for it, my dude,” Tye replied.

  “Cool.” Dallas stuffed a handful of candy into his mouth and then looked at Carmelita. “So, Ms. Mexicana, the fiery ball of passion and spice.

  “Watch it.” she said.

  “Ok! Sorry. But, you seem to be really familiar with your powers. My question is twofold. How did you get all this experience with your powers after only a couple days and why were you so reluctant to join our group?”

  Surprised by the question, Carmelita leaned back as far as she could on her log before leaning back in and individually making eye contact with everyone. “Honestly,” she began. “I discovered my powers a little before I got here, during a um...” she trailed off for a bit. “During a dispute.”

  “What kind of dispute?” Ashley asked, leaning in.

  “I guess we have to be honest, right? If we’re really gonna understand each other, then we have to talk about our deep shit. Fine.” She steeled her nerves and sat up straight. “It wasn’t a violent thing. I’ve had enough of that with guys in the past. My girlfriend at the time and I were having a fight about her cheating on me. We had gone on a hike when we started arguing. She tried to leave and I grabbed her arm. That’s when I felt everything. And I mean everything. All of her emotions, all of her struggles, all of her... history. The truth. I saw it all right there just as vividly as if I had been there and I was so overwhelmed that I let go. To cut a long story short, when that happens and you notice that you’re turning invisible and trees and bushes get uprooted, you figure out quick that something’s going on.”

  “How’d you know it was you and not some crazy random occurrence?” Dallas asked.

  “Trees being uprooted and levitating in the air is some crazy random occurrence? No. In my anger I wanted to find out what was going on... Admittedly not for the best reasons... I came to realize that when I focused, I could kinda control it. I only really had a day before I came here but I got to learn a bit about myself and see what I could try to master. Luckily for me, invisibility was one of those things. So, when I got the urge to come here, I was able to practically walk past everyone.”

  “What about Dallas’s other question?” Kato followed up. “Why were you so reluctant to join us?”

  “I don’t know,” Carmelita said softly, scratching the back of her head. “When I came here, I thought of it as a way to get away from everything. Something in me felt that my powers had a connection to this place and it was one of the only places I could just... be. No abusive boyfriends. No cheating girlfriends. No family pushing their ‘traditional’ religious values on me so much that my dad would put me on lockdown and shame me if I didn’t follow every word of the Bible. You can imagine how that went, with me dating girls. I was tired of people. I am tired of people. They’ve done me wrong so many times, I just didn’t have much faith that you guys would be much different.”

  “Well, what do you think of us now?” Kato asked.

  Carmelita brushed the hair from her face and a smile formed on her lips. “I think I’ve met some really cool people. I’m not at the point where I have complete trust in everyone here and to be honest I don’t know if I ever will be but so far? I think there’s potential and that’s more than I can say for a lot of the people I’ve dealt with. Honestly.”

  Kato started clapping as a single tear fell from his eye. “That’s beautiful, man. Just. Beautiful.”

  Dallas chimed in, “Hey, if you ever need us to kick a little ass, just give us names and addresses.” He tossed the bag of candy to Carmelita.

  Tye chuckled and leaned back. “He’s right. Considering your ex-boy is a shitty human being and your ex-girl can’t respect agreed-upon monogamy, as your friends, we have the right to put hands on em.”

  “As friends?” Carmelita asked with a smile.

  “Yeah,” Tye responded, beaming with a sense of comradery. “As friends.”

  “I’m glad,” she said, turning her head to the side. She ate a couple pieces of the candy from the bag and then looked at Kato. “Alright then, man of mystery and many confusing statements. What’s your deal? How’d you end up here?” Just as she was about to take another piece of candy, she realized that the bag had disappeared from her hands and that Kato was now enjoying his newly acquired treat.

  Kato laughed and waved around one of the candies. “I’m gonna pass on this interview thing. You guys have a really good emotional flow going!”

  “Since when do you get to pass?” Carmelita asked. “Actually... You know what? I don’t care. Something tells me you’d just say something crazy.”

  While the others softly nodded in agreement, Kato took a handful of candy, stuffed his mouth, and said, “Whatever. So, Ashley... Do you have a boyfriend? And how much cuter am I than him?”

  Ashley rolled her eyes and scoffed. “My boyfriend is non-existent and still cuter than you. Plus, I only seem to attract creepy guys that think harassing girls into dating them or hooking up is the proper way to approach another human being. C’mon ask me something real.”

  “Hurtful,” Kato said. “I don’t know. You seem kinda boring. Just like a regular white girl.”

  “That’s me!” Ashley said sarcastically. “Regular white girl,” she shrugged and took another bite of the meat. “But really though, I am pretty boring
. There isn’t much to say. My dad is a country boy and my mom is a successful professional in the big city. I get good grades, am head cheerleader, get hit on by every guy, socialize with everyone, be involved in everything,” she paused. “It’s great,” she said, her voice quieter.

  “It doesn’t sound like you think it’s all that great,” Carmelita commented.

  “Yeah,” Ashley said. “Maybe ‘great’ isn’t the best term. Having to project a certain image 24/7 but also having to live up to that image all the time… It’s stressful. The way the idea of ‘perfection’ is drilled into you psychologically without anyone ever saying the word is amazing.”

  “What do you mean?” Tye asked.

  “I mean, when I go out, people expect me to be one of the prettiest girls, one of the smartest, one of the most sociable, the person that has it all together, the person that everyone should desire and aspire to be, because anything less than that is failure. Some days, I don’t want to spend multiple hours to look a certain way for a few hours of school. Some days, I don’t want to talk to people. Some days, I want to be allowed to be alone and cry, because there are so many times when I’m not…” she trailed off. “When I’m not okay.” She had a forlorn look on her face as she fidgeted with her fingers.

  “Yo, Kato,” Tye said softly, motioning for Kato to throw the candy to Ashley. He then stood up and said, “We appreciate that, Ash. That took a lot of courage. And for the record, it’s okay to not live up to everyone else’s expectations. At the end of the day, you’re only human and I think you should live your life according to what you think will make you the happiest and most comfortable. Not by how other people think you should project yourself to be. And thank you Carmelita and Dallas for sharing too. I think we really learned a lot about each other.

  “Very solid speech, but what about you, Tye?” Carmelita asked.

  “What about me?” Tye replied, sitting back down.

  “You haven’t said anything about yourself! We’ve to get to know you too, right? So... What do you want to share with the group?”

  Tye thought for a moment and then shrugged, unable to come up with anything that satisfied the question. “Honestly, nothing. My life has been pretty good to this point, I think. I don’t really have any issues other than general teenage struggles. Didn’t grow up in a bad place. My parents, though divorced, both love me and are involved in my life. My love life kinda sucks, but I’ve never been in a situation that would scar me for life. I’m just... boring.”

  “What does that mean?” Dallas asked.

  “What does what mean?”

  Dallas leaned forward and looked at Tye in the eye, “If you haven’t experienced struggle, how can we take you seriously as someone who’s motivated to make a difference?”

  Tye leaned back on his log and crossed his arms. He looked at the ground and then turned to the waiting faces of his friends. “You have a point. You may not take me seriously.”

  “That’s not a great answer,” Carmelita commented.

  “Hear me out, though,” Tye replied. “I don’t think a person needs to struggle or be the victim of circumstance to be an inspiration or be moved to help people. Sure, having gone through rough times can inspire that but I feel like we should all aspire towards greater things and towards the good of humanity simply because it’s good to do so. While I’m someone who hasn’t been through a lot, I’m still willing to risk my life to help save the world. On a smaller scale, I still donate to help those less fortunate when I can. I still try to be a good person. And I still try to learn from and understand people with vastly different life experiences. Those qualities are intrinsic, and whether or not you’ve had a rough time in life, I think people can be inspired to make them universal.”

  Everyone sat in silence after Tye was finished, taking in his words. They looked around at each other, contemplating how what he said had made them feel until, unexpectedly, Dallas began clapping. He was soon followed by Kato, then by Ashley, and then Carmelita somewhat reluctantly joined in. They held their applause for a solid five seconds before it died out.

  “That was spoken like a true leader. I think we learned a lot about you from what you said, man,” Dallas spoke up.

  A big smile now lit Tye’s face. He simply said, “Thanks,” before standing up and suggesting that they all head back to the cave and get some rest for the next day. As they prepared for flight, Ashley walked over to Tye and handed him the bag of candy.

  “I think you deserve this,” she said kindly, pushing it into his chest.

  Tye smiled and hugged her before turning to the rest of the group, asking if they were ready to leave. Once everyone was prepared, they promptly flew back to the cave. They spent the next few hours at the cave continuing the conversations from earlier, delving deeper into each other’s lives, interests, and thoughts towards one common goal: understanding.

  Eventually, they fell asleep one by one, now more mentally prepared for the challenges that lay ahead, convinced their newfound strength and confidence in their teamwork would be an invaluable asset.

  Chapter 15: Trial 2—The Horde

  The morning sunlight penetrated the translucent, cloudy surface of the dome. Everyone sat around the fire expecting another obvious signal to the start of the second trial.

  Being the last one to wake up again, Tye groggily stretched and rummaged through his bag, trying to find his toothpaste, only to notice that it was nearly halfway empty. Confused, he picked up his brush and noticed a very distinctive brown shade now tinting the bristles. “WHAT DA FACK!” he screamed and rushed over to the rest of the group who were sitting and talking around a fire.

  With a scowl on his face and his hands on his hips, he very loudly asked who had been using his toothbrush and toothpaste, to which everyone but Dallas raised their hand.

  His jaw dropped and quickly spun around and spit repeatedly on the ground, ready to burst into curses at them. Instead, he dropped his shoulders and simply said, “C’mon man...”

  He sat down dejected and tossed his toothbrush into the fire. Carmelita instantly caught the object with her telekinesis and told Tye to stop being such a baby. With a quick movement of her hands, she removed all the food and dirt particles from the bristles, tossing them into the fire. She took the toothpaste from Tye and put a fresh amount of paste onto the brush. She then tried to airplane the brush into Tye’s mouth like a young child.

  He looked at her with disgust and kept his mouth shut.

  “Oh c’mon!” Carmelita protested. “I stripped down the gunk to a molecular level. It’s literally cleaner than it was when it was brand new. There’s a reason we’ve been able to share it. I just forgot to clean it.”

  Reluctantly, Tye opened his mouth and Carmelita put the brush into his mouth. He spat into the fire, his eyes still angrily trained on the three who had used his toothbrush without permission.

  As Tye placed his things away after he was done, Kato turned to Carmelita. She tried to avoid making eye contact with the boy staring at her knowing that he’d ask for something ridiculous but eventually figured that he wouldn’t stop until he had gotten her attention.

  “Yes, Kato?” she said, slightly annoyed.

  “So... I was thinking...” he began.

  “You think?” Carmelita joked, laughing.

  “Ha-ha. Very funny.” Kato rolled his eyes. “No, but for real, I’ve noticed that my powers maybe aren’t the best for combat and I want to help in the future.”

  “Yeah, I get that,” Carmelita replied. “What does that have to do with me?”

  “Well...” Kato said coyly before pointing to the crystal ceiling, leading to a confused look from Carmelita. “What if you used your powers to fashion me a sword? With my speed, it’d be a pretty deadly combination, right?”

  “What!” Carmelita exclaimed. “I dunno if I trust you with a sword,” she said looking him up and down.

  Tye rejoined the group, still spitting on the ground in disgust. He leaned betwe
en the two and looked at Carmelita, “Sorry to eavesdrop, but Kato has a point. It’d be nice if he helped fight, and if you don’t do it, he’s definitely gonna annoy us forever about it, so...”

  Carmelita rolled her eyes and groaned. Giving in, she pointed a finger to one of the longer stalactites, breaking it from the cave ceiling. She then chipped away at it until it resembled a pink arming sword, complete with a smoothed-down handle and a razor-sharp double edge.

  Kato was giddy with excitement and ran over to Carmelita, giving her a big kiss on the cheek that caused her to scream. He ran over and grabbed the sword from the air, swinging it wildly and laughing like a madman.

  “Happy?” Ashley asked, laughing.

  “Very!” Kato yelled, hugging his newfound weapon.

  Tye smiled and rolled his eyes, still bothered by the thought of sharing his toothbrush with the others. He stood up and announced, “I’m gonna go get some fresh air before Kato starts accidentally lopping off heads. And because of the toothbrush thing, maybe throw up a bit.” He grabbed his backpack and headed outside.

  “Throwing up would just mean you have to use the toothbrush again,” Kato remarked.

  “It doesn’t matter. As long as you have that sword, everyone’s gonna be dead in a few hours anyway,” Tye joked.

  As he walked outside, he was met with the near-blinding light of the morning sun glistening through the dome’s surface. He took a deep breath and stretched his arms out, letting out a satisfied yawn as he felt his muscles and bones being pulled into their proper alignments. He was about to go back into the cave when he heard a faint rumble.

  Tye whipped around and saw nothing amongst the trees. But the rumble in his ears was unmistakable. Immediately, he took to the sky to see if he could get a better view. As he scanned the forest for anything noteworthy, his eyes widened when he noticed a mass of humanoids running through the woods like the waters of a tsunami.