by Dexx Peay
“Mom, can I ask you a question?”
“Sure.”
“Are you and Dad doing OK?”
“Of course we are,” she said, defensively.
“No, I mean is your marriage OK?”
She paused for a second.
“We’re fine, Dylan. School should be your only focus at the moment.”
School should be my only focus, but it wasn’t. I had school, my family, and hoping that no one else tried to kill my best friend and I because we had powers we couldn’t explain. She didn’t want to talk much after that and quickly ended the conversation. I knew from her reaction that something was up with the two of them. If I can spot their troubles, it would only be a matter of time before Dalton started to notice them too. I called everyone else back and received my birthday wishes.
I went to my last class of the day then met up with Marcus. He told the gang that it was my birthday so they decided to take me to an early dinner. We ate at a bite-sized restaurant a few blocks from campus. I really enjoyed the company of my friends — new and old. I invited Imani out but she was swamped with homework.
Once we left dinner we all went back to my suite. Gunner and Marcus got me cake and ice cream so I was happy. The cake was decorated with the X-Men characters Iceman and Pyro. I laughed when I saw it.
Had to be the best cake I’d ever gotten.
“I’ll light the candles,” Marcus said.
When I heard him say that I whipped my head around so fast, it almost did a three-sixty spin. I looked over and he had a lighter in his hand, laughing at me.
He smirked. “You OK, Dylan?”
“I'm fine. Light the candles so I can make a wish.”
Marcus lit the candles and hit the lights. Everyone followed me as I walked up to the cake. I closed my eyes and made a silent wish after they sang. I never liked the singing portion of birthdays. I thought about my life and everything I was grateful for. I’ve been blessed since I was born, so I didn’t want to be selfish this year. I wished that all my friends and family found inner peace and happiness.
I took in a gulp of air and blew. The candles didn’t budge. I tried it again and everyone laughed at me. I knew Marcus was behind the madness.
Everyone clapped and cheered after I got the candles out.
Stacey turned the lights on and blasted the music. I cut the cake and passed out pieces on X-Men plates. It was the perfect eighteenth birthday.
“OK, guys, I have an announcement.” I turned the music down and walked over to Marcus. “So today is my eighteenth birthday and I have enjoyed it all except the waking up late this morning. So on this day we celebrate but on the eighteenth, in nine short days, it will be my best friend, my brother, Marcus’ eighteenth birthday.” Just when I’d said that the door flung opened. In walked Airez, his brother, and another guy.
“Looks like we walked in on the loser parade, little brother,” Airez’s brother said. He walked around the common area of the suite, taunting my friends, then walked up to me.
“I heard you had some words for me?” He pressed his forehead to mine. I didn’t want to move because I thought he would kill me if I did. “Looks like it’s your birthday, I see.” He walked over and picked up a piece of cake off the table and tasted it.
“Taste good,” he said. And then smashed it in my face and pushed me down.
“That’s it,” Gunner yelled.
He and Charlie ran towards Airez and his brother, arms swinging. The girls screamed and Chris ran into his room. My day went from being good to bad in a matter of seconds. I smeared my hands across my eyes, removing frosting. Marcus was oddly silent just staring at Airez and his brother. His body was stiff, his face stale. His cheeks slowly turned red with anger. Anger that would soon turn to fire.
“Marcus, calm down,” I whispered over all the commotion.
He balled his fist and his eyes became destructive.
“MARCUS, RELAX!” I yelled.
It was too late. He wasn’t listening.
Chapter 14
Truth, Dare, and Lies
I couldn’t really focus on all the commotion going on in the room. All I could focus on was trying to stop it. Dylan was faintly calling my name, telling me to calm down and relax but that didn’t help the situation. My vision got fuzzy and the sweet scent of the buttercream frosting that brushed my nose hairs was like fuel to the fire. I pictured Airez and the other two guys in flames and before I could flicker my hands, I was pinned against the wall.
“Don’t do this,” Dylan whispered to me while cooling me down. “Relax.”
“Stop.” Delilah yelled.
Everyone froze in place. Airez was on Charlie’s back. Gunner had the brother in a headlock and the other guy was eating a piece of cake.
“I don’t know what the bloody problem is but we just want to celebrate our mate’s birthday,” she said.
Airez got off of Charlie’s back and gave him a push. Charlie had to pry Gunner off of the brother, which took a few minutes and Dylan was afraid to let me go.
The room was destroyed.
I couldn’t believe the destruction that they caused on my best friend’s birthday. There was cake everywhere and everybody’s clothes were half undone. Poor Chris wouldn’t come out of the room.
Once the three guys left, we cleaned and scraped cake off of the walls.
“Do me a favor, guys,” I said. They all stopped and looked at me. “Don’t plan anything for my birthday.” I gathered my things and went back to my room and called it a night.
I woke up the next morning to missed messages from Dylan and Delilah, checking up on me. I wasn’t in the mood to talk so I just got ready for class.
Charlie was already up and getting dressed. He managed not to bring up last night and I appreciated that. I had calculus first then a tutoring session with Delilah later. Calculus was a breeze for me so I knew I was never going to have any problems in that area.
After my first two classes, I met up with Delilah in the library. We went over some math problems as well as some of her biology homework.
“You really don’t want to do anything for your birthday?” she asked, breaking the silence.
I looked up from my book, “Yes, really,” and went back to reading.
She did the same for a quick second then said, “I mean it’s your eighteenth birthday. That only happens once, Marcus.”
“My nineteenth birthday only happens once as well, and so does every other birthday. I think I’ll survive.”
She exhaled. “You know what I meant, Marcus. Everybody looks forward to the day they turn eighteen and you are just going to ignore it like it means nothing.”
I closed my book and got up.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Our hour is up. I have to get to my next class.”
“Ugh! Marcus, don’t be like that.”
“I really have to go, Delilah. Call you later.” I ran off.
I didn’t really have a class to get to but I needed to talk to Dylan so I went to his room.
“Hey, how you holding up, bro?” Dylan asked.
“I’m good. Thanks for stopping me last night before I escalated the situation.”
“No problem, but you have to keep your cool. We can’t let people find out about us, remember?”
“I know. This is still taking some getting use to.”
“Do you think we should still be training? At least every once in a while, I mean, you never know when we would get attacked again.”
“Do you really think those guys would find us all the way in New York City?”
“You’re right. How would they know where we are now?”
“So what did you think about your eighteenth birthday?”
“It was one for the books. I can guarantee I will never forget it. Are you sure you don’t want to celebrate it?”
“I think I’ve changed my mind. I want to embrace it and be happy for the eighteen years I’ve been alive.”
> “That’s the spirit.” Dylan patted my back. “Do you remember that movie that came out years ago?”
“Pick one.”
“That movie that had the four boy witches with these crazy ass powers.”
“Umm…”
“Well anyway, on their eighteenth birthday their powers matured and they got stronger.”
“So you think that we’re witches and our powers are going to get stronger just because we turn eighteen?”
He shook his head up and down.
“Dylan, I think that’s crazy. I highly doubt we’re witches.”
“Please, by all means, tell me who we are then?”
“Dylan, man I gotta go.” I gave him a fist bump and headed out.
Later that night while lying in bed, I kept asking myself if I thought we should still be training. I wanted to train but I didn’t like the person I turned into when I used my powers. I did and said things that I didn’t normally say or do. I became aggressive and feared hurting somebody. But, there was one thing I wanted to practice without Dylan around…
It was about two in the morning and Charlie was snoring louder than a wild pig. I took the books and papers out of my bag and packed a pair of old sneaks, some sweatpants, and an old tee shirt. I snuck out of the room, down the stairs, and out into the streets. I wandered around aimlessly, trying to figure out what I was doing. Then, it caught my attention. I saw a building and remembered why I left my room. I didn’t know what kind of building it was nor did I care, but it was perfect. I walked around the side and climbed up the fire escape to the top.
I was out of breath by the time I made it up the thirty-story building. The night was cool and the city looked stunning lit up at night as always.
I juggled a few fireballs while walking around the rooftop to blow some steam. I extinguished the fire and walked over to the ledge. I looked down and didn’t think twice, I leaned my body forward and let gravity take over. The air pressed up against my body and free falling had to be the most exhilarating thing I’d ever done. The lights rushed by me and for once, everything around me made sense.
I knew my powers wouldn’t let me down. Seconds later my arms and legs were on fire and I was soaring through the air. I felt like a fearless eagle as I flew past the Empire State Building. I tried making shapes in the air but that was an epic fail.
Speeding up seemed easy but slowing down was challenging.
I didn’t know how to just stop so I embraced the pain that was to come and crashed shoulder first into a brick wall on top of a building. I didn’t really care that I had a bruise on my forehead when I woke up, or that my shoulder was stiff and I was bloody. I was too thrilled that I could fly without wings.
Once I got myself together, I wanted to try my take off. I sprinted like I did the first time I flew and galloped in the air and came right back down disappointed that I wasn’t flying. I concentrated on being light as a feather and having complete confidence in my abilities. I bent my knees and told myself that I got this. I sprung up and this time I was in the air. I raced around the city once again, working on my control and speed.
Turning and steering was easy, it was speed control that was challenging. Once I got the controls down, it was like driving a car. I only had to watch out for air traffic and not cars and trucks. I flew around until I found the original building where I started. My landmarks were the two flashing blue lights on top. I told myself I wasn’t going to crash this time, so I swooped in and slowed down and dropped myself down vertically. It was a little rough but I was getting the hang of it. I changed my shirt, pants and shoes and went back down the fire escape. I couldn’t risk having people see me looking like I just walked out of a burning building.
The remainder of the week was pretty much the same — class and tutoring. My sessions with Delilah were growing once people realized how I was able to simplify things.
During the day, I’d hang with friends and at night, sacrifice sleep in order to fly around the city. I kept those sessions private from Dylan, who was still having problems with Airez. If he would just take care of the problem, he wouldn’t have to sleep with one eye open.
My birthday was tomorrow and Dylan kept asking me what I wanted and I told him new shoes would be nice. I’d burned every pair I had except two and I didn’t have the money to afford new ones just yet. I would be walking around in my shower shoes if I didn’t get the flames under control and soon. I told him to spread the word of sneakers if anyone should ask.
Later on, I went to my study session to help Delilah with biology, along with two other classmates in Calculus. Had the brilliant idea to start charging people for my sessions as a way to make money for the semester since I was jobless. After the session was over, Delilah asked me if I wanted to go up to her room and watch TV, but I had to decline. I went to my last class and rushed to my room to get some sleep so that I could fly later.
The next morning I woke up early to make sure I got to class on time. My parents started the birthday calls as I walked to class. I told my friends that I didn’t want to be in a dorm room for my birthday, so we caught the subway to Central Park. Delilah and Stacey packed a basket with some sandwiches and snacks for us to indulge. Gunner brought a football and a Frisbee for us to play catch and everyone had a wrapped gift in their hands. The best thing about the day was that there was no Airez in sight.
“OK, everyone, gather ‘round,” Delilah said, gesturing.
We all circled around her basket. She pulled out some store bought cupcakes and put a candle on one. When I looked around and saw how much time and effort my friends put into making sure I had a great birthday, I felt wanted more than I’ve ever felt in my whole life. Outside of my adopted parents, Monica, and Dylan, I was never close to anyone.
This was the start of my life.
They all grabbed which gift they brought and began to present them to me.
For the most part all the boxes looked the same. I began to open them all up and I’d gotten what I asked for—sneakers. With each pair I opened up they told me why they picked out that particular pair. Dylan’s pair was track shoes. He said he was ready for a rematch and this time I couldn’t cheat. I had six pairs of new sneakers.
When we got back to campus I took all my gifts upstairs and thought about going for a flight but found myself just wandering around campus. Something still wasn’t right about me turning eighteen. I had a good day with my friends, but I had this feeling something was missing.
I walked over to Dylan’s dorm and texted him to come downstairs.
“What is it, bro?” he asked. “This better be groundbreaking news for you to pull me out of bed this late at night.”
I hesitated for a moment and finally said what I’d wanted to say my entire life. “I want to find my real parents.” I was shocked I even went there and by his face, I could tell he was too.
Flustered, he replied, “Are you sure — I mean how would you even know where to begin?”
“I’m not sure but I was hoping you could help me…”
He was quick with his response. “You know I got your back, but what are you going to tell your parents?”
“I’m not going to tell them. I don’t want to hurt their feelings, but I need to know.”
“So, what do you suggest first?”
“Would you be down for a road trip this weekend to Poughkeepsie?”
“No problem.”
After our last class on Friday, we got right on the road and headed home. We both told our parents we wanted to spend time with them for our birthdays.
They bought it.
We spent the car ride talking about how we would find them and what they probably look like. I couldn’t picture them since I didn’t have a formal racial background. What was definite was that I had color, dark brown eyes and a slim nose. I had so many questions to ask like: was I exposed to some kind of radiation or was I an experimental test subject? What if they had no clue of what I could do? I wouldn’t want to freak
them out right away.
The sun was already setting when we made it home. It felt good to be back in my hometown where everything was slower and obnoxious noise didn’t hit you when you walked outside. We pulled up to my house and Dylan dropped me off.
“Let’s keep a low profile, OK. We don’t need any attacks from you-know-who.”
I nodded, closed the door, and went inside.
My parents were excited to see me even though it had only been a few weeks since college started. I felt guilty saying that I wanted to spend time with them when in reality I only wanted to look for clues about my identity. Mom already had a meal ready on the counter and we all sat down in front of the TV to enjoy dinner as a family.
By the time I woke up the next morning, Dylan was already on it. He called and said he was setting up a lunch for our families. I sat on the edge of the bed staring at my phone. I picked it back up and sent a message to Monica and told her I was home for the weekend and it would be nice to see her. Figured she wouldn’t respond since it was still a little early but she did, and told me to meet her at the Carrot Cake later today.
Mrs. Perry called about an hour later right on schedule to ask Mom if we would like to go to lunch. Of course, Mom said yes. I told her I was inviting Monica as well.
“So, how do you like having a room all to yourself now?” I asked Elias.
“I don’t have to listen to you snore anymore,” he laughed.
I threw a pillow at him and we began to wrestle.
As my family left, I told Mom that I would meet them there. I wasn’t sure how Dylan got out of it but within minutes after my family leaving, he pulled up.
“OK, where do we begin?” he asked as soon as he got out of the car.
“I wonder if my parents still have my original birth certificate.”
“You have two?”
“Essentially. Once an adoption is finalized, the child is issued a new birth certificate with the updated information. Never seen my original one. Not even sure if they got a copy or if it was sealed away.”
We walked inside and went into my parent’s room. “They keep a chest of old family things in the closet. Let’s look there.”