Jade gasped and awoke with a start. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and wished for the millionth time that this reoccurring nightmare would leave him alone! He shook the dream off and rose from his mattress. Smiling to himself, he stretched and groaned as his back popped. He got ready for school quickly and headed downstairs to the small dining room of the orphanage. He was glad that his eighteenth birthday was quickly approaching. There was no one else his age at the orphanage and he was ready to meet the world head on. His amiable nature made people flock to him. As far as he could remember, he had never been truly unhappy. The head of the orphanage, Ms. Penelope Bedgood (or Ms. Pen, as everyone called her), was kind and all the kids looked up to him as the “cool big kid”. He was just impatient to be independent.
He pushed open the door to the dining room and sat down at his usual seat. A few teenagers greeted him warmly, and then continued their discussion. Once the food was brought out, they all filled their plates. The room was filled with the sounds of forks scarping and idle chatter about the day ahead. When Jade finished, he headed upstairs to grab his school pad. He shoved it into the plastic case and tucked it safely under his arm, then headed out the door to catch the bus.
Jade groaned as he remembered the test in Biology. He knew everything on the study helps, but their instructor had a nasty habit of putting random things from the lesson in there, just to throw the students off. Unless you knew the section well, you were bound to make a score that wasn’t exactly pleasing to the eye. Jade assumed it wouldn’t be very pleasing to parents either. He knew from his past foster parents that bad grades meant bad news.
Of course, he had never really had parents. The few foster homes he had been to found out about his special ability. They immediately began to be wary, and to trust him less and less. Eventually they gave him back to the orphanage, stating that there was nothing wrong with him, he just wasn’t for them.
And it didn’t really help when they asked him about his past either. He was physically unable to conjure up any memories before the age of seven. He knew that most kids could remember at least a few things from that age, but Jade drew on a blank every time he tried to picture his early childhood.
But, Jade had come to terms with his mystery childhood. He didn’t need to know. It was not essential for his survival, so therefore he made no efforts to pursue it.
Jade made it to the end of the street with just a few seconds to spare. He clambered onto the _____ and sat down quickly. The engine hummed to life as it turned in a full circle, heading toward the school.
* * * *
Jade sighed in relief when the bell rang. He stood up and smiles at his worry from that morning. He knew everything on the quiz and felt confident that he made a good score.
“Jade!” a voice called. Jade swiveled around to find Ezra striding toward him. “Hey man, you want to come over today? We’re going to try out the new _____.” He gave a goofy grin and waggled his eyebrows.
Jade chuckled. “Sorry, I can’t. I have to do homework and then fix the couch converter. It’s short-circuiting again. It just about devoured Jamie last night.”
Ezra gave a sympathetic smile. He waved and headed off in the opposite direction. Jade smiled to himself. He had other plans that night. Sure, he was going to do those things he told Ezra about, but he was also going to do more than that. Besides, he wasn’t much of a gamer. He didn’t like seeing the animations trapped in the screen. They seemed too contained; like they had to do what you made them do. It was just awful for Jade. The last time he went to Ezra’s place to try out a new game, he ended up setting the characters free. He did it secretly of course; he couldn’t let anyone else now about his ability, not again. On the bright side, it was almost his eighteenth birthday. He would leave this section of the dome and his abilities would be secret once more.
