Abnormals [hiatus]

Chapter One-- Shadows

She sat in the darkest corner of the room, hiding in the shadows. The knowledge that they were close lingered in her head, only five more minutes and they would find her. On the girl's wrist, her watch ticked and tocked... a minute passed, now two. They would take her away-tick tock-because of her powers-tick tock.

"Emily?"

Somewhere, in the small town of Grand Portage, Minnesota, they were coming for her.

When the big, burly men dragged her out of her hiding spot, Emily clawed at then, kicked them, and bit them, but they just treated her like a flea buzzing around their heads. The tuxedo-clad henchman had an iron grip, cruel faces, and beady black eyes that looked like they were pushed back into their skulls. Emily knew that fighting would be useless, but she still made a fuss of struggling.

As the men pushed her down from her dark and musty attic hiding place and onto the stairs, Emily tumbled down to the familiar terrain of her house. The walls, spotless and shiny white, held framed photographs of a picture-perfect family-Emily's family-but she was nowhere to be seen in the photos. She cried out for help from her family, the least bit of mercy, but the doors to her brothers' rooms and her parent's room were all closed, locked tight. Emily knew better than to expect help from them, especially since what had happened last week, but her mom and dad used to protect her from organizations like this ever since they started coming when she was six. Now, her family had finally decided that she was a freak. No good for them. Emily didn't have a doubt they had been the ones who called these goons to take her away in the first place.

No one to turn to. No one to miss. Her disappearance wouldn't mean anything.

The two burly men continued shoving her down the flight of stairs leading to the first level and proceeded to escort Emily into the kitchen. As they passed a window on the ground floor, Emily glimpsed a black van parked outside of her house with the two letters A and I spray-painted in white across the exterior. Once they had arrived, Emily, who was dragging her feet across the cold tile floor in a vain attempt to slow them down, was forced into a rickety, old wooden chair across from some creep in a fedora. The man raised his gaze, but that didn't make him any more visible. He was cloaked in shadow, seemingly radiating darkness, turning everything around him black and fuzzy in Emily's vision. However, through the dark, Emily's eyes adjusted to the figure of a man outfitted in a pinstriped suit with a golden star pinned to his lapel. The man's eyes were hidden under his ridiculous fedora, which cast the rest of his face into pure darkness. He cleared his throat.

"Hello, Emily," He vocalized coolly, his smooth voice reminding Emily of a jaguar stalking its prey. "It's quite a pleasure to meet you."

Emily's heart hammered in her chest and up her throat until she was sure her whole body was vibrating to the beat of her heart. She waited for ten seconds, hoping that her mom and dad would come stomping down the stairs with a rifle and a phone, threatening to call the police, like they used to do when she was little, but no one came. She would have to get out of this one alone.

"Who are you?" Emily whimpered, resisting the urge to add I'm too young to die!

He smiled cruelly-or at least Emily assumed he did-and whispered, "Well, that would take away the mystery, wouldn't it? I won't fall for your tricks, little girl. Show me your powers."

"I'm just a normal girl," Emily lied, her whole body shaking, but her eyes filled with what could only be described as defiant fire. Emily hated the dark.

"I-I'm not powerful. I'm nothing." Emily stammered, but she knew this wasn't true. She was powerful, one of the most. Emily wished she wasn't. Her powers, they were the reason why she had to be homeschooled, why she was pushed away by her family, why she was ignored at dinner, and why she was never in family photos. Her mom told her that it was "appropriate safety measures", but Emily thought it was hatred. The only signs of affection her family had ever shown towards her were fending off the bad guys when they would come, but now that was gone, too.

The man cloaked in darkness made a growling sound, and Emily could tell that he was angry. "Your lies will not deceive me," he seethed. "I know your greatest fears and worst dreams, and we can make them reality. Show. Me. Your. Powers." With every word, the darkness around the man churned, solidifying into pure black around him. Suddenly, darkness and shadow started to creep across the floor like mist, pouring out from the man, enveloping chairs, and climbing closer to Emily, who had a feeling that if she got lost inside the mist, she would never be able to see again. Emily scrambled back, fumbling out of her chair and trying to flee out of the hallway, but the two minions caught her in their beefy arms.

"What about your goons?" Emily shouted to the man, thrashing in the henchmen's grip as the mist began to advance towards them, "Would you sacrifice them just to blind me?"

The man cackled, "My goons are disposable, their lives don't matter. And as for you, my dear Emily, eyesight does not affect our interest in you. You will still be operational."

Emily screamed, a sharp piercing cry, as the darkness twisted slowly through the legs of the chairs closest to her. Inching towards her, the pitch-black mist winded up her waist agonizingly slowly, and the shadow, black as ink, wound up her neck and tickled her chin, climbing up the arch of her nose.

"Bye-bye," the shadow man cackled, and darkness veiled Emily's gaze.

"NO!" Emily shrieked, and closed her eyes. Emily swayed, vertigo overcoming her. She felt nauseous, sick, but the feeling was familiar-it came after she used her powers.

Emily cracked one of her warm brown eyes open to a peek, and almost cried. She wasn't blind. Both of her hands were spread-eagle in front of her, though, shaking, like she was telling a really scary dog to stop, but she wasn't. Emily was using her powers.

Emily lifted her gaze up from her hands and gasped. Every piece of furniture in the kitchen; the table, the chairs, the box of tissues, had all been moved to one corner of the room, and the shadow man and his two minions were suspended four feet in the air, their bodies bound in place with Emily's sheer force. Her telekinesis had worked. Emily gulped, and mumbled，"Never come back here again. You're not welcome."

With that, Emily loosened her grip on the three men and let them crash onto the hard, tiled floor with enough force to knock them out, and fled from the scene.