Morph [EDITING] || Wattys 2017 Winner

~SIX~

~amelie~

The air is warm as I look around the office. The whole thing is made of dark oak, but it's lit up by the smile of the middle-aged man in front of me, who looks about my dad's age. He looks weirdly familiar, but I can't figure out why. His hair is greying at the temples, but it turns quickly into the same blonde as Ryan, if a little more muted and dull. His eyes twinkle as he looks at me, Lila grumpily standing guard by his shoulder and Amber giving me a smile next to the other. Flanked by the twins, he looks short, but I realise he's sitting down when he stands and suddenly towers above both of them. His build looks similar to Ryan's too, and I wonder what their connection is.

The man extends a hand to the plush armchair next to me. The red centre has golden knobs around it, before reaching the dark brown frame. Even though it feels really odd to be sitting down while Amber and Lila have to stand, I sink down into the chair.

He smiles at me. "My name is Dr Elian. I'm one of the lead rebels. You might remember me - I am the doctor who administered your ability test."
Recognition dawns and I frown. "You faked it, you mean."
Elian sighs. "Yes, I did. But it was what I had to do. Your position... it was irreplaceable from the start. If something had gone wrong with you, we would have used your sister, but you were always the prime candidate for helping us. After I tested you, I knew I had to get out - if the government discovered I faked an ability result they would have me jailed just like one of you."

One of you? It crosses my mind that the phrasing he's used isn't accidental.

"You don't... have powers, do you?" I ask. "Everyone else does here, but not you. Why not?"
Elian sighs again, and starts to pace around the room. "I'm not unique, Amelie. A few people have no powers here. I, unfortunately, am one of them..." He hesitates. "But I am one of the founders of the rebellion, due to my connection with abilities.

"I am, if you haven't guessed, a fully qualified doctor. I specialise in unusual areas, but I was not allowed to be in the operating theatre while anyone I had an emotional connection with was in there. I was waiting outside, about to see my newborn child in hospital for the first time, and start a family with my wife, when a nurse rushed in and blocked me from entering. They tried to save her, but Cynthia died in childbirth. They managed to keep our baby alive though." A solitary tear rolls down his cheek, silently, but he keeps talking. "I held him in my arms, and I looked at him, and he looked so much like her. I knew in that moment I would love him unconditionally, but I didn't know what to name him. Cynthia always said the name would come when it came, so I honoured her wishes and waited. The next evening, I left the room to cook. I came back in to find a name had sprung up in my head. And as soon as I said it aloud... something strange happened. I named him Ryan, and he began to hover."

Wait... Ryan is Elian's son? Somehow, I've been expecting this. I'm not as surprised as I thought I would be.

"My first reaction was wonder. Superhumans had been popping up for a while, and I was overjoyed that my boy was one of them. But in a few days, just as I was about to take Ryan to see his mother's grave for the first time, a news report came on. The news of a huge explosion, reported by eyewitnesses to be caused by a glowing man losing control of his power. Overnight, Ryan became a fugitive. I knew I had to get out of the city - I couldn't risk the last of my family being taken away from me. I started making plans with a couple of my colleagues. I started talking to each cryptically, knowing that if one of them had any connection with abilities they would understand. We met secretly, thinking up ways to escape unharmed and undiscovered. We waited eight years, enough for Ryan to be able to aid us in escape, and on my last day in the city a young girl was brought to see me. She had missed her ability test, and her father heard of my reputation as a trusted doctor and brought her to me. That was you, Amelie."