by Aaron Slade
Evee and I were inseparable at school, and we would have been inseparable outside of school if I could touch her phantom body. She went home after school, but she still visited me every night. She joined me in my room before we fell asleep in her phantom body. We watched my favorite movies and talked– sometimes all night until the sun came up. I was frustrated that I still hadn’t gotten my first kiss, but I knew it would be amazing when it finally happened. Neither of us wanted it to be at school, which was the only place we saw each other recently because of Evee’s dad.
Hiding my ability from my parents and the school had become a chore. Why was it so important to Uncle Jesse that I kept everything secret? Because of him I couldn’t tell Seth and Sara, who both thought it odd how I would space out and stare at Evee during lunch. They assumed I was a love-sick puppy, but had no clue that I was admiring something they couldn’t see. Seth didn’t like the new me much.
At the same time, Seth, Sara and even Dad noticed something was off about Adam. As graduation drew near, he feared more and more what awaited him with Zana. He had dark circles around his bloodshot eyes, pointing out to everyone that something was wrong. Whenever I tried to talk to him about it, he gave short answers that did nothing to reassure me. When Dad asked, Adam just said that he wasn’t sleeping well. The only good sleep he got was at school, where he would pass out from exhaustion.
At times it felt like people had forgotten that I was human. They saw me with Evee, and all the attention I used to get was cut in half.
People knew about Evee’s ability now, but didn’t react to it. Surely they could see the usefulness in Evee’s ability. If everyone knew about her sneaking into my room late at night, they would realize her ability’s potential. Her phantom body allowed us to never be separated.
My time spent holding her hand fascinated me on so many levels. The shiny, pearl aura never ceased to amaze me. My hand would tingle as if it were asleep. Evee knew when my ability was on my mind, and she usually indulged me with a smile. I was thrilled to have someone who I could completely be myself with, but I also liked to observe my ability when we were close. It was easier to control when we touched.
“CASPER!” Seth growled. “You’re not listening to me.” Seth sat on his knees at the cafeteria table so that he was at eye level with the rest of us. He looked agitated.
I spaced out again, but this time I wasn’t staring at Evee. I was listening to the band practice. I could see the violet light seeping through the cracks of the door again.
“Sorry, Seth,” I said. “What were you talking about?” I felt guilty for not paying attention.
“I was talking about doing something this weekend.” Seth rolled his eyes, more agitated than I had ever seen him. “We haven’t hung out in weeks.”
The only way Seth ever left his house, and his mother’s sight, was if he was with Adam and me. He was probably going insane if he’d been trapped in his house for the last few weeks.
“What’s up with you?” Sara asked. “You’ve been considerably distracted these last few days… almost offensively so.” She didn’t sound angry, but rather like she was making an observation.
“I’ve just…” I couldn’t fabricate a decent excuse. I wanted to be honest with Seth and Sara, but not before I told my parents. “… had a lot on my mind lately.”
The secret forced a rift between all of us at the table. There were times Evee wanted to bring up the subject of my extra-human trait, but couldn’t because Seth and Sara were present. Usually Seth had a sapphire-blue aura, and Sara had a lime green aura. At the moment, neither of them had a trace of light around them, and I knew why– they were upset with me because they knew I wasn’t being honest with them about something. They knew Adam was hiding something as well. We’d all been friends too long for us to effectively hide something from each other.
“I need a favor,” said a familiar voice. I turned around and saw Dad, wearing his green tie and black suspenders. His ruby aura was so dim it was barely noticeable.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“Since you and Adam both have free periods next, I was going to see if you wouldn’t mind moving the cafeteria tables for me,” he said. “The teachers need this room after school for a workshop.”
I looked at Adam, who was fast asleep with one hand in his mashed potatoes. “Sure, we can do it.”
Dad arched an eyebrow at Adam. “Is he alright?” Dad asked. “His teachers told me that he’s been falling asleep in classes.”
“He’s fine,” I said. “His mind just isn’t very stimulated these days. You know how Adam gets bored sitting in school, or any place for long periods of time. Senioritis– that’s all. Plus he’s been staying up late with me, watching movies and junk.”
“You boys shouldn’t stay up so late,” Dad said. “School work comes first.” He wanted us to have fun at the end of our senior year, but he had to keep us in check as a father and a principal.
“Yes, sir,” I said. “And we’ll get those chairs moved for you.” .
“Thanks,” Dad said. “I have to go to my office now to prepare for the workshop.” He disappeared into thin air.
“Your dad is so cute,” Evee said.
Shocked and a little repulsed, I turned to her. “Really?” I asked, arching my eyebrow.
“You and your dad look just alike,” she said defensively. “It’s a compliment.”
I laughed. “I guess I’m going to move all of these tables by myself. I’ll let Adam sleep in study hall.”
“That’s nice of you,” Evee said. She looked over at Adam, and I could see that she was afraid for him. The mystery of what would happen to him after graduation worried all of us, but Adam did his best not to show anyone that he was scared– he couldn’t hide it from me.
“I don’t know how much help he would be anyway,” I said.
Lunch ended, and after the cafeteria cleared out, I started clearing the tables. Evee offered to stay and help me, but the job wasn’t difficult. The tables folded up easily, and I rolled them against a wall in the cafeteria. They had wheels, so the task was simple without help. I finished moving the last table and admired the now vacant cafeteria. It seemed bigger without all the tables and chairs. The band was still playing, and I realized how envious I was of the band members, wishing I’d learned to play an instrument. The smooth melody flowed through my body, vibrating like a low hum, but something cold interrupted the feeling.
“Where’s your girlfriend?” an unpleasant voice called.
I knew who it was before I looked. Randy walked towards me with a calm face and fire in his eyes. I didn’t know what to expect. He usually preferred an audience when he tortured me, and the cafeteria was empty.
“I heard your dad say he would be in his office, so I decided that I would give you a hand with the tables,” Randy said. The corner of his mouth curved into a small, deceitful grin. He pulled off his green letterman jacket, and I eyed the exploding Shoal emblem as he threw the jacket off to the side.
His fists curled. He yelled some semblance of a battle cry as fire burst and boomed from all over his body. He threw flames flying at my feet. The fire was too fast for me to run, and I tripped, falling backwards on the floor. More blazes and embers soared towards my body as if they were homing in on me. My arms burned from the searing heat, and sweat rolled down my neck in seconds. I tried to crawl away when he paused his attack, but I couldn’t get far enough away. Flames covered his arms. Randy looked like he was on fire, but the rage in his eyes scared me more than the severe heat.
“You know, Casper,” he began, saying my name like it was scum, “I’ve always wished that you and I could have a fair fight.”
“I doubt it,” I said, taking cover behind one of the cafeteria tables. “You wouldn’t even be here right now if I could fight back. If I had an extra-human trait you wouldn’t bully me.” For a second, I forgot that I did have an EHT. Something about Randy made me feel like the vulnerable human again. There was no doub
t that I was afraid of Randy when my aura extinguished.
“Someone has to keep the human in its place,” he said. “If I don’t make you fear me, then you’ll think you can do whatever you want. No one’s here to save you… your daddy’s gone and so is your best friend… I’m only sorry your girlfriend’s not here to see this.”
My shelter behind the table crumbled when Randy attacked it with a fireball. The table collapsed on top of me, pinning me to the ground. I struggled to push the burning wood off my body, avoiding the flames and cursing my weak strength. When I managed to stand, I realized there was nowhere for me to run. Randy and I stood face to face in the vacant cafeteria like two cowboys in a western standoff. He thrust his hands up.
Two walls of flames roared to life on both sides of Randy and me, creating a narrow hall with searing hot walls. The temperature was so intense, sweat dripped down my temples and my t-shirt started to smoke. The fire alarms started buzzing, as the pillars of flames grew as tall as the ceiling.
“Things aren’t going to be different just because you got a girlfriend,” Randy barked, acting more unstable than I’d ever seen him. He had no real control. Randy allowed his fire to corrupt and control him. “Well, I came to remind you where you stand on the food chain.”
The fire-walls closed in on me, moving dangerously close to my body. The massive heat consumed my scalp, and the smell of burnt hair reached my nose. My head wasn’t on fire, but the heat was so intense it felt like the flames covered my whole body.
“Randy,” I said. “Why can’t you and I just be friends?” I could barely believe the words coming out of my mouth.
“Superior beings such as myself would never be friends with a human,” he responded. As Randy flexed, a flaming ball soared towards me, hitting me in the shoulder. The fire walls disappeared as Randy’s fit of laughter broke his concentration.
My aura flickered like a light bulb shorting out. I heard the band still practicing behind the back wall. I could hide in the band room. The band director would stop Randy from hurting me. I ran along the wall evading the impaling fire, desperate to reach a safe place. There was something more sadistic to Randy’s attack than usual. He didn’t just want to hurt me– he wanted to kill me!
The closer I moved to the band room door, the more the music resonated in my chest and in my head. When I reached the door the violet light triggered the tingling sensation in my spine, and my aura ignited to life, banishing all my fear and anger away. I opened the door and let the aurora bleed out of the room into the smoldering cafeteria. I let the energy charge me, and my aura shined brighter than I’d ever seen it. The violet light pulled into my body, and fed my amber aura, making it overflow in the cafeteria.
Images of Evee flooded my mind as I forced myself to concentrate on her, thinking of her soft skin, blue eyes and my arms around her warm, slender frame. She wanted me to forgive Randy, but that was impossible.
With the absence of fear, I started walking towards Randy. The heat in the cafeteria was gone, but the sea of flames and smoke still surrounded me. He threw more flame spears at me, but they extinguished before they reached my body. My aura blocked the attack like some kind of shield. As he threw more fire, I trusted the yellow hue to block his attacks, and I unflinchingly stood my ground. His fire couldn’t touch me and for the first time in my life, I saw fear on his face.
Randy manipulated the flames to engulf me, but my aura consumed the fire. The thunderous roar of the blazes was all I could hear, but I kept my mind focused on Evee. I took a step forward, fighting the inferno and firestorm wind that pushed against me.
Every step that I took and every failed attack by Randy baffled him more and more. He couldn’t see what I could. He’d never seen this side of me, and neither had I. The cafeteria was gone, and all I could see was a cocoon of fire. I wanted him to be afraid, and a part of me was happy for the trembling terror in his eyes.
“How are you doing this?” he yelled.
“You can’t hurt me anymore,” I said.
As I treaded closer, the walls of flames and smoke intensified. I couldn’t see the cafeteria walls or ceiling– only Randy. He tried to hit me with the embers, but they couldn’t get close to me.
I stood right in front of him as the blazes wreathed around his body. I remained motionless for several seconds as Randy realized his efforts were futile. Face to face, the anger in Randy’s eyes turned to panic. There was nothing he could do to hurt me, and he knew it. The adrenaline took over my actions, as I instinctively raised my hand, preparing to touch Randy. The force of the fire pushed me away, but my aura instinctively pulled my hand to Randy. As my palm brushed the ball of his shoulder, the fire in the room died instantly, and a teal aura burst to life around him as he collapsed to the ground.
When the inferno had cleared, a crowd of students and teachers stood at the entrances to the band room. The band students held the instruments in the crowded doorway, gawking at the sight of me standing over Randy. The sound of the fire’s roar was gone, but the fire alarm wailed in the background.
“WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?” boomed Dad’s voice. He stood at the entrance to the cafeteria. His anger was enough to make my own aura disappear.
Dad teleported over to me where Randy rested on the floor. “How are you not hurt?” he asked. He examined my arms and chest for burn marks. “I had to wait for the flames to clear before I could get near the two of you.”
Uncle Jesse insisted I not tell my parents until after graduation, and now that I knew I could use my aura as a shield, I wanted to wait even more to tell Mom and Dad. I needed to understand everything before I made my ability public– I had to lie.
“Randy wasn’t trying to hurt me, Dad,” I said. “He was just showing off.”
Randy looked more confused than Dad did. He looked at me with trace amounts of fear still lingering on his face, but he didn’t speak.
“Both of you go to my office,” Dad demanded. “I’ll be there in a minute.” His words sounded vicious, and he stared at Randy, turning red with higher blood pressure than I’d ever seen in him. His rage prevented me from seeing his ruby aura.
Randy was silent while walking down the hallway, trailing behind me. We got to Dad’s office and sat in the two chairs in front of his desk. I tried to act calm, focusing on the pictures of me around Dad’s office.
Randy stared at me. A vacant and confused look covered his face. I sat beside him, avoiding eye contact, but pleased with myself. I thought I had gotten my point across to him. My aura returned in the office, shining brighter than normal. The golden light painted the walls of Dad’s office with its rays.
“I know your secret,” Randy said. He stared at the floor.
He had seen me use my ability, but what did he really know? He couldn’t see the light. I had walked through fire without a burn, but I had birth records and the word of Military physicians that claimed I was human.
“What do you know?” I asked.
“You have an extra-human trait,” he accused. “You’re just like the rest of us. You’re fireproof or something. You’ve always been like the rest of us, but you hide it.”
“You’re wrong,” I said. “I’ve just adapted to becoming fireproof over the years… and I’m nothing like you.” My words hissed through my teeth. I felt taller sitting next to Randy all of a sudden, when I usually felt dwarfed.
We sat there in silence. I thought I should lie for him as a gesture of potential peace between us. I wasn’t sure that I even knew a story that could get him out of this one, or if I wanted to try, but I had to come up with something to tell Dad. I was unharmed, so I had to make up a reason why I wasn’t hurt.
“Why do you do this to me?” I asked. I forced him to lock eyes with me. “Is it really because I’m human?”
“I don’t owe you an explanation,” he said. He didn’t sound upset or irate, but confused.
Evee’s task of forgiving Randy wasn’t going to be easy. I felt my aura start to fade, and then I
thought of her eyes and it came back to life.
“I need to be able to forgive you, Randy,” I said. “For everything you’ve ever done. I’ve spent so much time hating you and everyone else at this school.” I wanted it to be over. It was a new day.
“I don’t need your forgiveness,” Randy said, sneering
“Well I’m not forgiving you so you can feel better,” I said. I remembered Evee’s words. “I’m doing it so hate doesn’t control my life anymore.” Randy was silent and less aggressive; his fists unclenched. “Do you have any idea how much energy I’ve wasted loathing you?”
Dad burst into his office, causing Randy and me both to sit up in our seats. He walked instead of teleporting, something he only did when he was mad. Taking steps instead of teleporting is what he did to blow off steam. He was the principal in this moment - not my father.
“Boys… I need one of you to tell me what happened in the cafeteria,” he said. He was livid, more at Randy than me. “NOW!”
Randy jerked and looked at me, waiting for me to rat him out.
“Randy,” Dad started, “your behavior problems are about to start having a negative effect on your future.” Dad spoke this as if the words were stones in his heart. He wanted the best for Randy, the same as he did for all of his students.
“What do you mean?” Randy asked.
“I mean that you’ve victimized my son for the last damn time,” Dad growled. His tone switched to that of a father. “I’m expelling you, meaning that you will NOT be graduating this year.”
Randy’s face whitened in his anger. I felt the heat radiating from his body, but he kept a stoic face.
“You have to understand that if you insist on being a threat to my students, I have to act,” Dad continued. “If expelling you ensures their safety, I have no choice.”
Randy deserved to be expelled, but I worried he might tell others what he had seen me do in the cafeteria. Uncle Jesse had insisted that my ability remain a secret– I had to trust him. I had to act quickly.