Special

by Chino Chakanga

  ‘I’m pretty tired from the treatment,’ was all I managed to let out.

  ‘I hope you feel better soon,’ Allie said, disappointed.

  ‘I just need some rest. Can I reserve the right to change my mind if I feel better?’ I asked, knowing full well I wouldn’t.

  ‘Sure,’ Allie replied.

  ***

  I usually spent Friday evenings with Allie. Since she was preoccupied with the adroit, I would use most of my time alone to read or write. I was curled up on my bed with my nose buried in a copy of “A Tale of Two Cities” when Mum’s rapping on my door snapped me back to reality.

  ‘Your Dad’s been in an accident,’ she said out of breath.

  Chapter 11

  Mum paced around the hospital waiting room, while we waited for news on Dad’s condition. Cody sat beside me on the waiting chairs. His eyes were fixed on the waiting room television, which aired a report about a prison break-in.

  Clips of the robbery caught by the prison security cameras played on repeat in the news report.

  The robber or Gelder as the media had christened him, wore all black. Black jeans, a black hoodie. Black gloves and boots. His head was hidden and shielded by a black custom police and prison guard helmet which offered both physical and psychic protection against all forms of power inhibitors. Gelder’s helmet had a sigma and an equal sign roughly etched on the forefront. It was also customised to cover his entire face.

  In the bits of footage, a prison guard blasted Gelder with a handheld inhibitor often referred to as a “neuter.” Gelder hit the guard with a telekinetic blast before taking the guard’s neuter and using it on many other guards in his quest to gain access to the inhibitor room.

  Unlike the general inhibitors found in some sections of schools or areas where abilities were not allowed, prison inhibitors covered a longer range and usually had an effect of up to one week after high or prolonged exposure.

  Titan later showed up, but he was also struck by the neuter and weakened. He was beaten and thrown through a wall before Gelder escaped. Gelder telekinetically levitated two large metallic cabinets that housed the powerful Long Range Ability Inhibitors. A few prisoners also escaped in the process.

  Mum continued her pacing around the waiting room. We had been waiting for nearly two hours, and all we knew was that Dad had wandered into the hospital by himself. He was in a critical condition and collapsed in the lobby. The doctors suspected he might have been in some sort of accident. The doctors were busy trying to stabilise him.

  The door to the Emergency Room opened. We all instinctively looked up hoping it was a nurse or doctor with some news, but it wasn’t. My heart skipped a beat each time a nurse passed by or a door opened.

  The doors opened. This time a familiar face walked through. ‘Carla!’ Mum Carla.

  ‘Hi Elle!’ Carla hugged Mum.

  ‘Hope!’ Carla called.

  I got up and hugged her.

  ‘It’s great to see you.’

  You’re a doctor now? Mum asked.

  ‘Resident actually,’ said Carla.

  ‘That’s close enough though,’ Mum said.

  ‘How have you been?’

  ‘We’ve been good. My husband however is in critical condition but no one will tell us anything.’

  ‘I’ll go see what I can do,’ Carla offered.

  ‘Thank you,’ Mum said.

  Clara disappeared into the ER.

  Throughout my treatments, Mum had always tried to maintain a strong, hopeful composure. The last time I had seen her so scared and devastated was when I had to be put under for a bone marrow biopsy for the second time. I had to take an injection before the operation and threw a tantrum. Mum tried to be strong and held me so a nurse could inject me. I broke free and ran to Dad. I begged him not to let them inject me.

  ‘Don’t you want to fly like daddy?’ Mum pleaded. I turned to Dad and wept.

  ‘It’s okay,’ he whispered. ‘It’s okay.’

  He somehow managed to calm me down. The nurse injected me while he held me tight.

  Mum had been at my bedside when I woke from the procedure. I could feel her hand caressing my hair. I could hear her sniffling. I was still mad at her, so I pretend to be asleep.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ She said between sniffles. ‘I hope you know it’s for your own good.’

  The waiting room exit door opened. Grandma Sophie walked through. She held a cup of hot chocolate in each hand and telekinetically levitated two more. She handed one to Mum.

  ‘Any news?’ she asked.

  ‘Not yet,’ Mum sighed.

  Grandma Sophie put a supportive hand on Mum’s shoulder before taking a seat beside me. She handed both Cody and me a cup of hot chocolate.

  Grandma Sophie had the coolest ability. If I were to have a special ability, it would be hers. She was the most gifted person I knew, yet she hardly showed it. She rarely used her abilities unless it was truly necessary. Much like Mum, she could adopt the abilities of anyone she came into contact with, only she didn’t have a limit on how many abilities she could access or use at a given time. She could also retain up to eight abilities at a time. Like Mum Grandma Sophie had kept my late grandpa’s teleportation ability. She could teleport to any location she could picture or had been to before. However, she could perform multiple jumps and carry more objects along with her without easily exceeding her limits. This was because she had an augmenter ability that helped her push her limits. Other abilities she had retained included: telekinesis, endurance, flight, weather manipulation within a five-mile radius, and she could slow time for almost thirty-seconds.

  Mum had told me once that Grandma Sophie could read minds and see the future.

  The emergency room doors opened. Clara emerged. Grandma Sophie got up and stood beside Mum.

  ‘I’ve got some very positive news,’ Clara said. ‘Your husband’s vitals are stable. He’ll make a full recovery and should be able to go home in a few days.’

  ‘Can we see him?’ Mum asked.

  ‘Sure,’ said Clara.

  ‘Thank you,’ Mum sighed in relief.

  ‘You’re welcome,’ said Clara.

  ***

  My heart sank the moment I saw Dad laying in the hospital bed. I couldn’t remember seeing him so frail or sick. He was covered in bruises. His leg was elevated and wrapped in a cast. The doctors weren’t sure of the cause, but dad’s fast healing had slowed down considerably. All his abilities were on the fritz. He seemed smaller than usual. Was this how I seemed to him every time the roles were reversed?

  I didn’t realise I had frozen at the entrance until I noticed Cody and Mum hugging Dad. ‘Hope,’ Dad whispered. I walked over. He seemed to weak and fragile I dared not hug him too tight.

  ‘I got a cool cast like yours,’ he smiled.

  I forced a smile.

  ‘How are you feeling?’ Mum asked.

  ‘I’ve been better,’ he groggily replied.

  ‘What happened?’ Mum asked.

  He took time before responding. ‘I’m not sure. Last thing I remember was being at our construction site. It’s all a blur from there.’

  ‘Are you coming home with us?’ Cody asked.

  Dad looked at Mum, uncertain. Mum didn’t answer. Dad took the bullet.

  ‘Not yet,’ he said.

  ‘Okay,’ Cody said, disappointed.

  Chapter 12

  ‘Hey!’ Allie called from behind me as I walked toward the school entrance.

  ‘You won’t believe the weekend I had,’ she enthusiastically said as she caught up with me.

  ‘We went to that new club twice…’

  I tuned out for a moment. I’m not sure if it was the treatment but I felt drained — lethargic. My muscles ached. I felt as though I was carrying twice my weight.

  ‘Eric wasn’t there,’ Allie continued, ‘but it was fun—’

  ‘Can’t you see they’re just using you!’ I exploded. ‘They don’t care about you!’

  Fl
oodgates that had been building for weeks, opened. A torrent of words I had been desperately trying to hold back came pouring out.

  ‘Eric is never gonna ask you to the dance!’

  Allie was getting teary eyed, but I couldn’t stop the words. They were now on autopilot. All I could do was wait for them to run their course.

  ‘It’s obvious he’s not interested in you. They are just using you for your abilities!’

  My pulse raced as I took deep breaths. Allie quietly waited for more, but I was done.

  ‘At least I have abilities,’ she retorted, before walking away. I watched as she disappeared into the sea of students entering the school.

  ***

  In the years that I had known Allie, I couldn’t recall us ever having a falling out. We had disagreements but never a falling out. When we argued, we usually made up within a day.

  Allie walked right passed our shared desk in Chemistry class without acknowledging me. She went to the back raw at sat next to Rory where Eric used to seat. Izzy sat with Christie. Izzy asked Christie to swap places with Allie. Christie complied.

  ‘Okay,’ Mr Cleary said. ‘We concluded the chapter on bonds yesterday so it’s time for a pop quiz.’

  ‘Awe,’ the class sighed in unison.

  Mr Cleary picked up a stack of papers from his desk and began to hand them out.

  ‘If you’ve been paying attention this should be a walk in the park.’

  Allie walked with Izzy down the hallway towards me. She barely looked at me and went past. I was invisible to her.

  I took out my phone and created a new text to Allie. I’m sorry, I wrote. I was stressed and tired from the treatment. I erased the text and simply wrote, I’m sorry about yesterday and tapped the send button.

  Allie continued to ignore me the rest of the day. She walked right past me in the hallways and sat with the adroit in all the classes. I checked my phone. There was no reply from Allie.

  ***

  Allie sat at the adroit lunch table as usual. I stood with my tray and scanned the dining hall. Everyone seemed to be sitting within a group. The rebels had all surrendered. Even Gael seemed to have joined one of the maladroit tables. I tightened my sweaty pals around my tray and marched towards and empty table.

  I was met with stares from Izzy and Christie. I felt naked. Like all the eyes in the dining hall were on me. I kept my eyes focused on the empty table which seemed to play dodge with me. It seemed to move further away the closer I got.

  I finally reached the table and sat down. I took a few deep breaths. I had barely taken a hundred steps, yet my pulse raced as though I had ran a marathon. I wiped the perspiration from my forehead. I couldn’t help look over at the adroit table. Izzy noticed me staring. She said something to Allie, and for the first time since our falling out, Allie looked at me. She shrugged and said something to Izzy. Izzy smiled. The adroit continued on with their conversation. I wasn’t sure what was said, but my overactive imagination filled in the blanks.

  Why’d you ever hang around that maladroit? I’m surprised you didn’t catch AD.

  I know, she’s so hopeless.

  I looked around the cafeteria and caught a few more stares. The dining hall seemed bigger. I sank into my seat. I could hear mocking whispers echo throughout the hall. I told myself it’s not real. No one is talking about you. My voice of reason was drowned out by a dissonance of negative words.

  What a weirdo?

  I heard she’s got Severe AD.

  Is it contagious?

  My chest tightened. Like a fish out of water my breathing was strained. I dropped my plastic fork. I got up, tossed my food in the trashcan and exited the dining hall.

  ***

  ‘Just a few more days to go,’ Dad enthused.

  His healing was almost back to normal. His cast came off faster than mine. The doctors said he could be discharged within a week if he continued to heal at that rate.

  My phone buzzed. I pulled it out from my pocket and stole a glance at the screen. Just a promotional message. I continued to stare at my phone.

  ‘You okay?’ Dad asked.

  ‘Yeah,’ I nodded.

  I put the phone back in my pocket.

  ***

  I laid in bed reliving my day through my journal entry. I wrote down every detail of my falling out with Allie. I couldn’t go to bed that night, so I wrote down the events of the day in my journal. I looked at my phone. Still no messages.

  I switched off the nightlight and closed my eyes. My mind was still racing.

  I tried to read to drown out my thoughts, but it didn’t seem to help. I put down the book and let the feelings of fear run wild until I finally fell asleep past midnight.

  ***

  Allie rowdily entered Chemistry class with Izzy and Christie. She made no effort to make eye contact as she walked past me. I was overcome with emptiness like the seat beside me.

  ‘I’m very disappointed in the results from our last quiz.’ Mr Cleary said. He grabbed a stack of marked papers on his desk. ‘It appears I’ve only been teaching two students.’

  He moved around the class handing out the papers. ‘Only two were able to score above D.’

  Students frowned as they received their papers. Some laughed.

  ‘Well done Hope,’ Mr Cleary said as he handed me my paper. He made sure the whole class heard. ‘A’

  ‘Well done Eric!’ he announced when he got to Eric. ‘A+’

  He finished handing out the rest of the papers.

  ‘Since most of you clearly weren’t paying attention, we will be doing revision this week.’

  I noticed Allie collecting some books from her locker. ‘Hey,’ I said.

  ‘Hi,’ she responded, sternly.

  ‘Did you get my text?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  She left it at that.

  ‘I gotta get to class,’ she said and walked away.

  From that day on, I would plan my movements, so I had the least possible chances of running into Allie and the adroit. I would eat my lunch on the benches of the open sports field. I would sometimes alternate and bury my nose in a book in the library.

  Chapter 13

  ‘The test results came back,’ Dr Graham said. Mum and I sat opposite his desk.

  He reached into an envelope and pulled out two brain scans. He placed the two scans in front of Mum and me. ’The gene OME3A manufactures omnipotin protein throughout our brains. In Hope’s case, however, the maternal copy of the gene is faulty, and the paternal copy is dormant, preventing the protein from being formed. The omnipotin protein ligase E3A plays a critical role in the normal development and function of our abilities.’

  He pointed at the bright coloured green brain scan on the left. ‘This is a healthy glow of someone with full-functioning abilities.’

  He pointed at the nearly identical bright coloured scan on the right. ‘This is Hope’s recent scan.’

  The differences between the two scans were minimal.

  ‘What does it mean?’ Mum asked.

  Dr Graham pulled out another scan from a manila envelope. He placed it on top of the scan on the left. The difference between this scan and my scan were significant. The colour of the new scan was less prominent and had a few dark specks. It was less green than my scan.

  ‘This was Hope’s scan before the treatment.’

  Mum perked up. Her eyes widened as she examined the scans closely.

  ‘The treatment is working,’ she sighed.

  My pulse quickened. Was it possible? After all the years of treatments.

  ‘The drug is working,’ Dr Graham confirmed. ‘Hope has responded very well to the treatment.’

  ***

  ‘I knew this treatment would work!’ Mum enthused on the drive home.

  The car radio softly droned on to music in the background.

  The possibility of acquiring abilities was exciting, but until I actually had one, I couldn’t celebrate or raise my hopes. ‘I can’t wait for you to feel�
�’

  Mum pulled her face. There was a loud pitch sound and static on the car radio. Mum fiddled with it. There was no signal on all the channels. She turned it off. Blood tricked down Mum’s left nostril.

  The car in front of us abruptly braked and swerved. It overturned once and landed on the driver side. Mum slammed the brakes hard and swerved to the side of the road to avoid impact. My seatbelt pressed against my chest tight, squeezing air from my lungs as it restrained me. I was slammed against my seat as the car stopped. A cacophony of car horns and screeches echoed along the freeway as many vehicles came to a halt. Mum turned to me and asked if I was okay. I nodded. Besides the shock, I was perfectly fine. Mum, on the other hand, didn’t look too good. Her mouth was covered in blood that trickled onto her blouse.

  The horn of the car ahead of us incessantly beeped. A woman stumbled out from the passenger side facing up. She went over to the windshield of the driver’s side. She limped over to the side of the car and pushed to roll it to its wheels.

  ‘Stay here,’ Mum instructed.

  She teleported out of the car and barely made it to the overturned car. She stumbled the rest of the way and telekinetically helped the woman push. The car rolled to its wheels. The car horn stopped beeping. The woman ran over to the mangled driver’s door and pulled at the door handled. It was jammed. Mum extended her hand at the door. Nothing. She concentrated. The car door was ripped off its hinges.

  A man emerged from the car. The woman ran to help him. He leaned on her.

  The car dashboard lights flickered.

  Mum and the couple fell to the ground and started writhing in agony.

  I scrambled to unhook my seatbelt and unlock the car door. I ran to Mum’s aid. I helplessly watched as she palmed her head. She heaved and contorted wildly.