Special

by Chino Chakanga

  ‘Dinner will be ready soon,’ she said as I staggered up the stairs with my new cumbersome appendages.

  ‘I’m not hungry!’ I mumbled.

  I lied. I was famished, but I desperately needed to be alone.

  I scuffled to enter my room and shut the door behind me.

  I carelessly threw the crutches on the floor and plopped down on my bed. The feeling in my foot slowly returned and with it the pain. I sighed, reached into my jersey pocket and pulled out the bottle of antiemetics Dr Graham had prescribed and the painkillers for my busted foot. I swallowed one of the painkillers. I placed the bottles on my nightstand next to my collection of supplements and other medications. My nightstand often looked like a makeshift pharmacy. If I had a dollar for each pill I had taken or each injection I had endured since my treatments began, I would have been rich.

  I curled up on the bed and stared at one of the pictures on my other nightstand — a picture of my family taken ages ago. We all seemed so happy.

  ***

  I was around ten, Cody was about two and a half. We had spent the entire day at the beach. We began the day by tossing the beach ball around. Later Dad would hold the ball out of our reach and see who could knock it out of his hands. The game subsequently evolved into an amalgamation of tag and football. Rules were added and changed on the fly. We eventually made a goal from two plastic beach sand buckets. Dad was the designated goalkeeper. The aim was for Mum, Cody and I to kick or run with the ball past him. Whoever got past was playfully chased and tackled or tickled by Dad. We all took turns getting past him. He playfully let us pass each time, because we enjoyed the tickling so much. I don’t think we laughed as much or as hard as we did that day. When it was Mum’s turn, Dad playfully grabbed and tickled her. Her snorting laugh was contagious. In an attempt to break free Mum’s legs intertwined with Dad’s. They tumbled to the ground. Dad broke Mum’s fall. They giggled, stared into each other’s eyes and kissed.

  After the game, Dad, Cody and I built a sandcastle while Mum read a book and bathed in the sun. Cody was on sand duty. He would repeatedly scoop sand with a plastic pale and pile it near the castle. At his age, nothing could keep Cody entertained long enough. He wandered towards the water. Dad went after him.

  ‘I’ll get him,’ Mum insisted. She teleported and reached Cody before he could get too close to the waters. Cody couldn’t get enough of the water. Mum watched him as he ran back and forth from the waves. She held his hand while he explored the shore and collected some seashells. Cody wriggled out of Mum’s hand and ran when he spotted some newly hatched sea turtles crawling towards the water. Mum strolled after him and patiently watched while he curiously observed one of the sea turtles that was crawling out of its shell.

  ‘Time to go?’ Mum pleaded after the turtle was halfway into the water. Cody ignored her. She picked him up.

  ‘Turtle!’ Cody balled, throwing a tantrum.

  Dad flew to Mum’s aid. I ran over and joined them.

  ‘I got him,’ Dad told Mum. He grabbed Cody from her hands. Mum sighed.

  ‘I think we had enough sunshine for today,’ said Dad.

  ‘Turtle!’ Cody cried. ‘Turtle!’

  Dad set him down. He gently picked up the turtle and put it in Cody’s hands.

  ‘Why don’t we get a few pictures,’ Dad advised. ‘That way, you can have something to remember it by.’

  ‘Great Idea,’ Mum said. She teleported to our bags and reappeared with the camera. She snapped a few pictures of Cody holding the turtle.

  ‘How about a family photo?’ Dad suggested.

  ‘Mother we’ll appreciate it,’ Mum agreed.

  ‘Hi!’ Dad called at a woman sitting on the beach not too far from us. ‘You mind taking a picture of us.’

  ‘Sure!’ the woman responded.

  Mum handed her the camera.

  We huddled around Cody and the turtle in his hands while the woman took a few pictures.

  She handed Mum the camera. Mum and Dad thanked her.

  ‘Why don’t we let the turtle go now?’ Dad advised Cody. ‘Its family is probably wondering where it is.’

  Cody let it go without protest. We watched as it slowly wandered into the sea and got swept away by the calm waves.

  ***

  It had been ages since we had such an amazing day. I imagined myself out of the picture. Cody was right, my family would have been better off without me. They would have had more picture-perfect days. Mum and Dad wouldn’t have fought about my treatments or worried about my medical bills. They would have had enough money for exotic vacations. Dad wouldn’t have had to play peacekeeper. Mum would have given Cody and Dad the attention they deserved, instead of investing all her time and efforts towards fixing me. My mind lingered on this portrait of a perfect family without me, until an eerie whisper snapped me out of my wistful thoughts.

  ‘Hope,’ the voice whispered, sending an icy chill down my spine.

  A blood-curdling scream escaped my mouth.

  My scream was so loud, Mum teleported into my room within seconds.

  ‘Hope dear, are you okay?’

  It was nearly eleven pm, Mum wouldn’t have tolerated me having company.

  ‘Yeah,’ I quickly nodded. I improvised. ‘Just a…spider.’

  ‘You want me to help you catch it?’

  ‘No, it’s all right.’

  ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘All right.’

  Mum exited my room and closed the door behind her.

  ‘Geez, Allie!’ I reprimanded. ‘I told you not to sneak up on me like that!’

  Mum came back into the room.

  ‘Did you say something?’

  ‘No,’ I quickly shook my head.

  The chair at my study desk moved.

  ‘Wait a minute,’ Mum said. ‘I know you’re in here Allie. Show yourself.’

  Allie slowly materialised. She was seated on the chair at my study desk.

  ‘Hi Mrs Goodman,’ Allie said in a bashful tone.

  ‘Hi, Allie. You know you’re welcome here anytime and on any other night you could even sleepover, but it’s late, and it’s a school night. I’ll give you thirty minutes.’

  Allie nodded.

  Mum closed the door on her way out.

  ‘How long have you been in here?’

  ‘Not long.’

  Allie and I had been friends since second grade. She could be very coy and skittish, which was kind of ironic because she was literally untouchable. She had the ability to be invisible. She could also phase through objects at will — kind of like a ghost. She could also phase or make any person or object she touched invisible. However, in doing so, her limits were significantly decreased.

  Allie and I initially bonded because she was a late bloomer. Her abilities didn’t show until she was eleven.

  As most kids gained their abilities and formed social circles dependent on their abilities, Allie and I were left group-less, which was a good thing, because we soon learnt we had lots in common and naturally gelled. I doubt we would have bonded had she gained her abilities earlier. We were part of a large group of late bloomers. Our circle of friends grew smaller as the other late bloomers developed abilities. One by one, they left until it was only Allie and me. I was terrified Allie would abandon me when she developed her abilities, but she proved my fears were unwarranted when she stood by me long after her abilities had developed and mine hadn’t.

  ‘Where were you? I’ve been trying to get a hold of you—’ Allie said before noticing my cast. ‘Yikes, what happened to your leg?’

  ‘Cody happened,’ I confessed. ‘I had to be rushed to the Emergency Room. The little brat is pretty strong.’

  ‘Ouch, does it hurt?’

  ‘Physically, I feel numb,’ I sighed. ‘I’m on some serious painkillers. Emotionally, I got sent to the ER by a seven-year-old, so you could pretty much imagine.’

  ‘It can’t be worse than the FMTs,’ Allie mocked.
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  ‘Don’t remind me.’

  ‘I got just the thing to cheer you up,’ Allie chirped. ‘So, you know how I can walk through walls and be invisible?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘Well, it got me to thinking.’

  Allie was filled with glee as she filled me in on her bright idea.

  ‘How would you like to be one of the first to see “The Hunter’s Curse?” If we leave now, we can make it in time for the midnight premiere screening.’

  She glanced at my cast and said, ’I can understand if you’re not in the mood.’

  ‘I’m in,’ I told her.

  ‘You sure? It will require a little defiance.’

  “The Hunter’s Curse” followed the exploits of a naive protagonist whose blood was the key to saving the world. The book was plagued with corny romance plot devices like an older brooding love interest and superficial descriptions of the heroes physical features. The overall plot was so trite it was amusing. It was the epitome of chick lit. Deposit all its flows, “The Hunter’s Curse” was a guilty pleasure of mine. I had been dying to see the film adaptation since it was announced.

  ‘Pretty sure,’ I nodded.

  Mum was in the kitchen cleaning up when I pretended to escort Allie out of the house.

  ‘Goodbye Mrs Goodman,’ said Allie.

  ‘Goodbye, Allie,’ Mum responded. ‘Do you need a ride home?’

  ‘No thanks, I’m good.’

  Mum didn’t pry. Allie’s house was just a few blocks away.

  ‘All right, be sure to go straight home.’

  ‘I will,’ Allie assured Mum.

  I continued escorting Allie and started to get the door for her, but she phased through the wall.

  ‘Goodnight!’ she said singsong.

  ‘I left some dinner for you in the fridge,’ Mum said.

  ‘I’m kinda beat,’ I lied. ‘Think I’m gonna call it a night.’

  I was tired, but not as much as I would’ve liked her to believe. Mum fell for the ruse.

  ‘Goodnight!’ she said as I slowly climbed the stairs.

  ‘Goodnight.’

  When I entered my room, Allie was already there waiting.

  ‘Ready?’ she whispered.

  I nodded.

  ‘One sec,’ she said. She walked over to my bed and stuffed my throw and some pillows underneath the blanket. She moulded the heap to look like a body lay beneath.

  ‘I don’t think I would be fooled,’ I said.

  ‘That’s because you saw me do it.’

  I handed Allie one of my crutches. I held on to the other, careful not to let it touch the ground. Allie wrapped her free hand around my waist to steady me. I leaned on her for support. We vanished and phased through my bedroom wall.

  We gingerly crept down the stairs and into the living room where Mum was busy clearing up. She picked up the pillow cushions strewn on the floor from my earlier altercation with Cody. Mum dusted them off with her hand and neatly placed them on the sofa. She switched off the lamp and looked towards our direction just before we reached the exit. We froze in place, careful not to make a sound. Mum walked directly towards us. Beads of sweat formed over my forehead. My heart was beating through my ears. I held my breath and tried to remain as still as possible. Mum reached out and extended her hand — through Allie’s shoulder — to the light switch behind us. She turned off the light and went upstairs. Allie and I sighed in relief as soon as Mum was out of sight. We phased through the door and exited the house.

  We walked to the nearest bus stop, which was about three blocks away. When we were clear of the house, Allie materialised us and handed me my crutch. I gave her a high five in celebration before we strolled down the deserted street.

  Chapter 6

  There were hardly any open seats left in the theatre, it was only when we exited that I noticed how full it was. Allie had snuck us in by phasing through the cinema walls, but we exited with the rest of the moviegoers. It was a weekday and nearly two in the morning, but the atmosphere felt like an early evening weekend. The moviegoers — not surprisingly — were between fifteen to twenty-something-year-old females, most of whom I didn’t recognise — except for Riley, and two other kids that were seniors at our school. There were sighs of disappointment and gasps of joy as people flocked to the exit. We let most of them pass. Allie patiently walked beside me as I hobbled along with my crutches.

  ‘That was so intense!’ Allie chirped. ‘Alex was so dreamy. He was exactly the way Dido described him in the book.’

  I was not entirely impressed. It showed.

  ‘You didn’t like it?’ Allie asked.

  ‘I have mixed feelings about it,’ I admitted. ‘It was all right—’

  ‘But?’ Allie interjected.

  ‘I don’t know,’ I said as I mulled over my verdict. ‘The movie didn’t do the book much justice. I get that film is a visual medium and all, but I wish they would have incorporated more voice-overs, especially during the bar scene. In the book, Dido’s inner dialogue is what makes the scene awkward yet lighthearted. Most of the scenes lost their intensity because of a lack of the quirky inner dialogue. The book is about fate and the preservation of innocence. The themes were, however, lost with that twist at the end.’

  ‘You are quite the critic,’ said Allie.

  ‘In all fairness, not all adaptations are great, because they’re not always quite how you pictured them.’

  ‘Isn’t that a good thing?’ Allie asked. ‘What’s the fun in knowing everything that happens? Wouldn’t it be boring if it was a page by page adaptation?’

  ‘I guess,’ I said.

  Allie snuck me home a little past two in the morning.

  ***

  School was an endless war, and every day was a battle. A day didn’t go by without someone hurling taunts or insults.

  I was collecting my Chemistry folder from my locker when an adroit from the horde of students swarming through the hallway bumped into me. I steadied myself on my good leg. The folder slipped out of my hands and fell to the ground, scattering a few unbound papers. I scrambled to the floor to prevent my papers from being trampled.

  ‘Watch it, Hopeless,’ the adroit mocked as he nonchalantly strutted down the hallway.

  His taunt elicited a few giggles from some students.

  I evaded the legs of the unruly students to get to my papers, but it was futile, there were shoeprints all over my papers. I sighed and waited for them to pass.

  ‘Out of the way, maladroit!’ some voices form the crowd hissed.

  It’s hard to forget how different you are when you’re constantly reminded. School was a cesspool of segregation and persecution. It was a place where superficial social circles were formed, and labels were enforced. There were namely three social classes at our school.

  At the very top of the hierarchy, you had the adroit. This prestige label was reserved for the elite — the individuals with the most desirable abilities. These were the groups where you would find your dual or highly gifted teleporters, telepaths, psychics, et cetera. To qualify, one usually had to exhibit one or more impressive abilities. This often meant acquiring abilities from both parents, which was rare.

  Falling short of being awesome, you had the semi-adroit in the middle of the hierarchy. These were the groups where you would find the not so impressive, average, dual gifted and single gifted individuals.

  At the very bottom of the hierarchy, you had the maladroit. Exhibiting undesirable abilities and often diagnosed with AD, the maladroit usually fell prey to the more superior adroit. Nobody wanted to fall into this category. There was, however, an alternative.

  For the few and bold not willing to conform to any particular label, there was the occasional rebel. Real rebels were extremely rare. The majority were usually new in school and uninitiated in the superficial hierarchy and politics of their new environment. Because we are social beings and society dictates that loneliness is a weakness, most rebels eventually surrendered and complied
with the system. Some were broken-in within a week.

  Allie and I didn’t affiliate with any particular group. Being abnormal and not suiting the standards of any specific group, I was labelled a maladroit.

  Allie was not entirely immune to the subjugation of the adroit, but I believe I was often spared the ridicule because of her friendship.

  Allie’s abilities were ideal for adroit level status, which used to scare me when she developed them. I was sure she would be seduced by the prestige that came with the elite group.

  I was just about done collecting my scattered pages when I noticed three girlie pairs of shoes lined up in front of me. I knew who they belonged to before I looked up — pint-sized diva, Isolde “Izzy” Brandt accompanied by her minions, Rory and Christie. They literally looked down on me.

  ‘What a klutz,’ Rory mocked.

  ‘You really are hopeless, aren’t you?’ Izzy taunted. ‘Can’t even carry your books without dropping them.’

  Christie and Rory sniggered.

  I stood up and felt less threatened at the realisation that I was taller than Izzy. I put too much weight on my busted foot. It hurt like hell, but I couldn’t let it show. I couldn’t give Izzy and her cronies more ammunition to mock me with. I gritted my teeth and bit through the pain, subtly steadying myself.

  ‘What do you want, Izzy?’ I demanded.

  Izzy levitated a few inches off the ground, making her seem taller and more menacing than she was.

  Using abilities for nefarious activities in school was prohibited. The adroit, however, didn’t think the rules applied to them.

  I often wondered how the world would’ve been if no one had special abilities. If everyone was like me. I wondered how the adroit might have been if roles were reversed. Would their ego’s have been deflated? Would other qualities like intelligence have been perceived to be cool? In all the alternate realities, however, even in the most perfect of utopias, I couldn’t imagine one where Izzy wasn’t self-absorbed or obnoxious. It seemed to be an intrinsic part of her.

  ‘What do you want?’ I demanded once more.

  ‘Relax, Hopeless,’ Izzy said. ‘We’re looking for your invisible friend.’