The Past Is Never Far Behind

Chapter One

Long ago I had accepted that fact that I was different, but I never put the thought into why. Why me, of all the human beings inhabiting this earth did I get chosen to be the guinea pig of genes? I mean I can't be the only person out of 7 Billion to be like this, but I was certainly the only one in Banks, population 1,300.

Not that it's something you would announce to the world, what with the government and the judgement of others looming over your heads. Surely someone had to have noticed by now how different I was. Not the normal different with the out their hair colour or some cool body modification. Freakishly different. Lavender Eyes different.

Lavender eyes and naturally white hair, pale skin and barely reaching the five foot mark. I was a freak show, long used to the stares and the looks, the whispers behind my back of those who will never understand that my chemistry is different from theirs. That down to the core I am as different as you can get. The constant struggle of hiding from those around me. Hiding in plain sight wasn't as easy as it looked, but somehow I have managed.

~~~~~

"Alex, where have you been?" I whirled around at the sound of my name to see Harley standing behind me, her familiar smile stretched a mile wide. One which I quickly returned as she rushed towards me.

"Hey." I mumbled as she came to a halt mere inches away. Harley had never quite grasped the concept of personal space as she was always Right. There. I was slightly used to the closeness, but never how her body's energy sang to me, calling me. I plastered on a smile.

"Me and Randall have been looking for you everywhere! Speaking of which where has he gotten off to now!" I shrugged as Harley whirled around, looking for her twin brother. Turning her attention back to me as she failed to locate him, her smile dropped into a small frown. "Actually, what took you so long, your usually the first here out of all of us?"

Where do I begin? Obviously not with the truth. I contemplated what to say as I played with the frayed edges of my hoodie.

"Well?"

"Michelle and I got into it again so I left the house late." Lie. Michelle, my father girlfriend, was away for a seminar in Great Falls this week and Dad had left hours before I even woke.

"I missed my usual bus so I had to wait 15 minutes for the quarter too one to come." Lie. I had just caught the 7:30 bus and all the seats where full so I was forced to stand, much to my dismay as standing was all the more dangerous. I had worn a short sleeved shirt today to combat the heat and my sweater was tucked away in my bag, far away from my reach.

"Since me and Michelle got into I left before I could eat so I stopped at Sam's Café to grab a muffin to eat." Lie. I was on the bus when it happened. The light turned yellow and the bus had to slam the brakes on last minute, sending me and a few other stumbling backwards, grabbling for something to hold onto. That's when it happened.

The elderly man didn't suspect anything, just thought he was being nice catching a teenage girl from falling over. So when both his hands wrapped around my biceps unexpectedly to steady me, I couldn't get a grip on my powers quick enough and away I went, soaring through his memories and life. The things I saw. The things I had to no right to see, can never un see.

Explosions, so many explosions. Soldiers rushing through fallen debris, limbs belonging to who knows scattered along the battle field. Holding a man named James in his arms as the light faded from his eyes. Magda , the girl at the dance who's legs went on forever in that little red dress with the black sash. Them bringing their first, second and third children home from the hospital, each time the smiles in their faces bigger. Her frightened face as the car hit them both, and the guilt he felt when he could walk again when he got out of the hospital after months. The flowers he placed on her tombstone every Sunday after church. How he never loved again after her.