2050: The Beginning of the End

Chapter 2: Jason

I watch Lili carefully. Her deep green eyes are narrowed, her golden brown hair is unnaturally messy, and she looks tired. My sister is thinking about something, and I'm guessing it has to do with Mom and Dad.

Finishing my granola bar, I meet her gaze. "Lili, don't worry about anything. Mom said they'll take care of everything. You worry too much."

Lili's frown doesn't disappear. "Sure." She says, staring into the distance. Why do people do that? It's something I have never understood. Is there something out there that I can't see, some secret that Lili can read in the empty air?

"Why don't you go back to bed?" Lili suggests, now looking at me. I had thought about it, but I'm too wide awake for that to happen. "I don't want to." I inform Lili. She sighs. My sister thinks I'm annoying. I don't know if it's because I'm only nine, or if she just can't see things the way I do. She thinks I'm immature, but I have my moments of brilliance just like Lili. She thinks that I'm too enthusiastic. I say it's optimism. Lili just doesn't get it.

I look out our kitchen window, watching as the sunrise creates a masterpiece in the morning sky. "Did you know that no two sunrises are the same?" I ask Lili, "I read about it online."

"Yeah." Lili replies, resting her chin in her hand, "I heard about that."

I sigh, irritated at my sister's lack of interest.

"Lil, you're only twelve. Stop trying to act like a grownup. You can do that later." I plead, giving her one of my signature pouts. She smiles, showing off her slightly-crooked teeth. "Sorry, but if you were older you would be thinking the same way."

I frown at her. Why does Lili assume that, if I was two or three years older, I would see things her way?

"I don't think so. I wish you would stop comparing me to you." I snap, glaring at her across the table.

"I wasn't comparing anyone." Lili says, rolling her eyes, "I was just making a point. You don't understand everything that's going on around us."

I roll my eyes in response, silently mocking her. If she only knew. I not only know what's going on, I can sometimes watch it happen. What Mom, Dad, and Lili call "seizures" are my visions of current global events. Mom says the doctors had the right diagnosis; some people seem to be in a trance when they have seizures. I couldn't care less about those stuck-up doctors. They don't know me.

"Lili?" I make another attempt at conversation, needing something to occupy my mind, "Do you believe in the supernatural?"

I'm curious; I can't make her believe in my abilities, and I have long wondered if it is because she doesn't believe in superpowers.

"No, Jason. It isn't logical. Why on earth would you ask that?" Lili looks as though, at this particular moment, she thinks I am a moron for asking such an obvious question. I'm not done, though, because my sister's obsession with logic has become a source of irritation for me.

"Lili, why do you think everything is a matter of logic? This war isn't logical, is it? Why can't people have superpowers? Why can't the things we imagine exist in real life? The world doesn't make sense, so why do you try to make it make sense?"

"Because everything has a logical explanation. You wouldn't get it." My sister declares.

"Why wouldn't I get it, Lili?" I demand, suddenly furious at her, "You're such a know-it-all. Just because you're twelve and taking high school classes, you don't automatically know everything."

Lili's face turns beet red in an instant. She opens her mouth, probably getting ready to tell me off again, but I won't give her the satisfaction. I push my chair back, getting up from the kitchen table. Marching upstairs, I slam my bedroom door just As a familiar sensation makes itself known.