The Potentials

Ben (Side note click the picture^)

Chapter 9

I wake up in the cave. Autumn is cooking the deer meat and Donavon has his back to me. Ben is sitting next to me and he looks concerned.

"Are you okay?" He asks as he notices I am awake. "We found you on the ground in the woods. We thought something bad happened. I was worried."

"I'm ok. I was in shock and I was lost. Donavon killed two dear. A baby and a mother. It was wrong." I tell him. Autumn walks up. She just finished cooking the deer. It smells delicious and filling. It smells like a mix between bacon and duck to me. I had a dish like that once for a special occasion. My sisters 5th birthday. Half a decade old. It was a special year in our house, so we made a grand meal and we celebrated by going outside and me and Melody played at the park across the street. That's when we went on the swings with mom and dad. I have a photo of that day in my draw-string bag. I'll never forget it. Right then Autumn interrupted my thoughts.

"What is your power Corinthea?"

"My power is water I think, although I don't know how to use my power or what I can do with it. All I have done is cry snowflakes, and put ice chains around my food to hide it in a tree away from animals."

"The people with water powers are very sensitive to life. Death is hard for them to deal with and killing is unthinkable. You are more skilled with supporting and saving lives by healing. I don't think you should ever go on a hunt again. Eating is fine though. I mean meat is delicious." She laughed. "Don't worry about it." I sigh in relief.

We walk over to the fire where the cooked deer is. It has a stick through it so they could rotate it over the crackling fire. Donavon has cut the deer into thin slices. They are big and remind me of ham slices at the deli. He puts it onto a long piece of bark. He only takes about half the meat from the mother deer and puts the rest on a wire above the fire. This is so it gets smoked and will last longer.

"Time to eat!" Donavon announces. He uses his powers to move a large round stone into the cave, and 4 smaller boulders. A table and chairs. Autumn collected some leaves to use as plates and washes them in the river. We eat fast and the left overs are left hanging over the fire smoking.

"Hey, Corinthea, can I talk to you alone." Ben tells me after dinner.

"Umm ok." Color spreads to my face. I wonder what this is about. I walk out of the cave.

"Over here." Ben says. He is on top of the cave. As I begin to walk up he shouts "Wait, I want you to close your eyes." Now I'm REALLY curious. He takes my hand and pulls me along the path up to the top of the cave. When I reach the top he goes behind me grabbing both my hands "Open your eyes." When I open them I see a beautiful flower patch full of blue flowers that seem to glow. They are dark neon blue. They smell so fresh and exotic. They have yellow centers and are more beautiful than anything I have ever seen.

"Oh Ben, they are beautiful." I say as I look into his auburn eyes. He looks at me for a minute before pulling me over to a moss and purple flower covered stone. We sit down.

"I thought that if I am in love with a girl, we should get to know each other better." My face is so red.

"Yeah, I think that would be a good start." I blink really fast as I look up at his face. "So tell me about yourself."

"Well I was born in the same town as you. My family was poor. We only had the necessities. I slept on the ground with a rag as a blanket and no bed. I rolled one of my shirts up and used it as a pillow. On my thirteenth birthday I woke up like any other day. There was a breeze in my room. I assumed it was just a draft. We had no windows. I felt the same. I got out of bed and walked down stairs. My parents just stared at me. My mom then screamed and my dad called the authorities. I didn't know what was happening, but I knew that there was something wrong with me. I knew that the authorities would kill me, and I needed to escape. I ran out of my house and was surrounded my guards. Then I started to fly. I was so scared. I flew over their heads and landed hard on the ground, breaking my arm, and I got a shard of glass in my face which later left a scar." He pointed to his cheek near his mouth. "I quickly got up and ran into the woods, hiding in this cave. They ran past, but didn't find me. Donavon and Autumn found me. I've been with them ever sense."

"Wow that's crazy! I am lucky I didn't have to deal with that. So are Donavon and Autumn a thing?"

"Yeah. For about a year. The've been through a lot together. They kiss ALL THE TIME. Like serious making out. I'm over here like 'I don't need to see that junk going down' but oh well." He laughed and smiled at me. He picked a flower from the ground and placed it behind me eat in my hair. "Your turn." He winked at me. He is great.

"Ok so for me there isn't much to tell. I had a good family life, a sister, and some good friends. In the lower grades of schooling I was bullied by many people. They told me I was ugly and annoying and worthless. That nobody cared about me, or liked me, or ever will." I take a pause. He is the first person I have told this to. I didn't even tell my parents.

"None of those things are true Corinthea! None of them! You are the most beautiful girl I have ever met!"

"Thank you." I smile and look up at his handsome face. "After that not much. Until this. This was harder for me than anything, but you make it much easier to deal with." He grabs my hand and holds it.

"Will you date me Corinthea?"

"OF COURSE!!! You are the handsomest sweetest guy ever, and I practically just met you. So I will get to know you more through everything. But I really want to be with you." We share a nice moment by ourselves as the sun sets in brilliant color, and we watch it together.