The Forbidden Side

Lizzie

Lizzie was nine.  She heard her mom call, "Family meeting!"  She ran into the family room.  Her brother and sisters were there.  Erin and Adam weren't.

            "Kids," her mother said.  "You know you're different."

            Lizzie couldn't believe it.  It was like a snowball hit her in the face.  Bam!  Someone, her mother, told her she wasn't a normal girl.

            "Julia and Katie, you already know," her mom continued.  "Lizzie and Justin, it's your turn.

            "I'll just come out and say it:  We have powers."

            Justin jumped out of his chair and started running around the room at maybe one hundred miles per hour.  "I knew it!"  He yelled over the wind he created as he ran.

            I didn't, Lizzie thought.

            "Justin," her mother said, "your power is obviously super speed.  And Lizzie..." She stared her daughter in the face.  "You are Telepathic."

            "I'm what?"  Lizzie whispered.

            "Telepathic," Julia said, "supposedly capable of transmitting thoughts to others and knowing their thoughts, or reading their minds."

            "So, what are your powers?"  Lizzie blurted, wanting the attention off her.  "Julia, your obviously super intelligent.  Katie?"

            Katie stared her down with intense green eyes.  "I'm Rebellious."

            "How's that a power?"

            "When your family was chosen to overthrow the government of Home, you'd think it would be nice to have Rebellion on your side.  But if you think you don't need me, you could've taken my power any time you want." 

            Lizzie Brimer knew she should feel safe, but she didn't.  Her brother and sister went missing years ago, and now she was stuck with an annoying little brother, a stuck up older sister, a shy younger sister, and an overprotective mom.

            Now, as Justin raced around her room at impossible speeds, she wished more than ever to have her triplet sister, Erin, back.  Even her triplet brother, Adam, would be nice.  Being a triplet was better than being the only middle child.

            Justin screeched to a stop by Lizzie's desk, where she was sitting.  "I'm bored," he whined in an obnoxious voice.  Lizzie concentrated and sent her brother flying up into the air, making him do flips by using the power of her mind.

            "Having fun?"  She asked, a smile growing on her face.

            "Actually, no, I'm going to throw up!"  Justin ran out of the room, and in seconds, Lizzie could hear the toilet flushing.  She smiled.  Sometimes having powers wasn't always a bad thing.  But sometimes it was.  Lizzie didn't have many friends.  No one could know she had powers.  Her family was special.  And that was an understatement.           

            Katie walked into her room.  "Where's my gum?"  She said in that sarcastic teenager voice you hear on television.  She brushed her short, messy, red hair out of her face and stared Lizzie down.

            She sighed.  "I don't have your gum."  She hated her sister's power.  If you could even call rebellion a power.

            "Yeah, right," Katie said before leaving the room with a flip of her hair.  Now Lizzie desperately wanted Erin and Adam back.  They would all put their minds together and send Katie out the door doing summersaults in mid-air.  What had happened to her curly haired, blue-eyed sister?  Sometimes, Lizzie thought she could still hear her.  Her sister's voice would come into her mind saying random things like, Benny, give me my skirt!  But Erin never wore skirts.  What had happened to her sister? 

            At least she still had one good sibling.  Her nine-year-old sister Julia was kind but shy.  She had super intelligence as her power.  Lizzie could use a free tutor to do her homework for her.  But Julia rarely said anything.  She felt like a freak in her elementary school, and the only one who had helped her get through being an outcast was Adam.  But then he left, and she never said anything.  Lizzie felt bad for the kid, so she tried spending time with her, but she couldn't.  Julia would beat her at any game, and they could never have a conversation.

            Then, there was her mom.  She didn't have a power, or she just never told the kids what it was.  She made them partner up whenever they left the house and they weren't allowed to go anywhere after school.  Lizzie couldn't blame her mom, though.  Ever since the twins went missing, her mom had been overprotective, not wanting a repeat of that.  The after school thing didn't bother Lizzie.  It's not like she has anywhere to go, or any friends to go with.

            Lizzie dreaded her daily walk to school with Katie.  Katie knew how to make friends, so during the five-minute walk; Lizzie had to listen to the latest gossip.  So Lizzie walked a few feet away from the girls.  She knew she was an outcast anyway.  No one knew that she was really a descendent from King Z and she was a Forbidden Person, but the kids at school knew she was weird without having to know that.

            She passed the boundary to Home on her walk to school everyday.  Lizzie didn't know what was there.  No one did.  She wondered what was past the Boundary.  Katie told her years ago that her family was chosen to overthrow the government of Home.  Would she have to?

            "So I was like, that shirt is so last season, and she was like, yeah well, and she couldn't think of a comeback!"  Katie and her friends gossiped.

            Lizzie rolled her eyes.  She understood that she had to go to a normal school, but why couldn't her sister make normal friends?

            "Hey, weirdo," Katie said, "we're at school.  Go to your middle school wing and leave us alone." 

            Lizzie walked down the steep hill towards the middle school wing.  Alone.  Her curly, light brown hair blew in the slight breeze.  Her blue eyes scanned her surroundings.  No one to talk to, as usual.  Even while no one knew about her powers, the sixth grade had marked her as The Weirdo.  Lizzie didn't understand.  She wasn't bad looking and very smart.  Plus, she was pretty athletic, what else did these kids want?

            She heard the bell ring and walked into school.  The hallways were lined with talking kids and a rainbow of backpacks.  Their heads turned as Lizzie walked past.  They stared at her, judgmentally.  Shaping her up.  Analyzing.

            Lizzie walked into math class first period and set her backpack on the floor next to her desk in the back right corner.  She had to sit alone. 

            She answered every question on her pop quiz flawlessly.  Once finished, Lizzie stared at the girl in front of her, Abby.  Lizzie's blue eyes pierced through Abby's skull and into her brain, her private thoughts. 

            What is x?  What is x?

            Lizzie liked Abby and felt bad for her.  X equals 26.  She transmitted into Abby's brain.

            Abby looked stunned, but she wrote 26 on her paper.

            Lizzie smiled.  Being Telepathic wasn't that bad.  She was a Powerful, doesn't that mean she should help people?  Or does it just mean her only purpose is to overthrow the government of Home.

            Periods passed, and soon it was the worst part of the day in Lizzie's opinion, lunch.  She sat at the very end of a table where some smart girls sat.   Lizzie opened her lunch box and nibbled her sandwich.  But then something, someone, talked to her inside her head.  It was a voice Lizzie recognized well from her days a little kid.  The voice was serious this time, and Lizzie instantly knew who was talking.

            I'm in Home.

            Erin.