The entire ride to the hospital, he just kept repeating the word over and over again in his mind.
His weirdness had a name- something that, at the time, he loved the idea of to no end.
Biotics.
He was a biotic.
It didn't make him any less weird, but it meant that there were others like him. He wasn’t an anomaly in the entirety of the world.
While that didn't make him as special as he thought, it was still pretty awesome.
None the less, he walked with his head held high (and a bag of cookies) into the hospital behind his parents. They had been talking quietly beneath their breath the entire ride, but at least they knew what he was.
At least he (sorta) knew what he was.
He was a blue-glowing boy who wasn’t alone.
As his parents went to fill out all the necessary paperwork, Kaidan noticed a little girl- probably a few years younger than him- sitting in a waiting room chair by herself.
Her blonde hair looked like it needed washed and her feet were really dirty and he thought that her parents needed to take her home and give her a good bath. She also looked too thin and very sad.
While his parents were talking to the desk nurse, he went over and smiled at her.
She looked so alone.
"Hi," Kaidan greeted her, smiling.
She looked at him with sad, lost green eyes. "'lo," she greeted quietly.
"I'm Kaidan," he informed her.
"Mimi," she answered, looking down at her clenched hands before looking back up at him.
His mom called his name and he waved at her to let her know where he was (his parents were always worried about what he was doing and where he was).
"Are you sick?" she asked him quietly, looking him over carefully, her eyes lingering on the bag of cookies in his hand before looking back up into his face.
That startled him.
Was he?
Was what he was able to do a sickness- would he end up giving it to others?
Would he give his glowing- his biotics (even thinking it gave him a strange kind of thrill)- to the sad, lonely little girl?
"I don't know. I glow a funny color and make things move. 's the reason my mom and dad brought me here." Then he realized something. "Where're your mom and dad?"
Mimi's bottom lip quivered and her eyes filled up with tears. "I don't know," she whispered, looking down at her hands in her lap. "My mommy...my mommy told me to leave and so I did. I walked and walked for a long time and I found my way here. The lady called the cops.
"I must be broke," she whispered, a small tear escaping from her eyes. She ignored it, not even seeming to realize that it had fallen. "'s the only thing that makes sense. Why else would she want me to go away?"
Her small voice explaining it hurt Kaidan in a way that he had never been hurt before. At nine, he thought he knew it all. But, looking down at the shattered little girl, he realized that he was a long way from knowing everything.
After he put his bag of cookies in her lap, he took her tiny, little hands in his own and smiled at her shocked expression.
What could someone his age say to a little girl who thought that she was broken?
How could he assure her that it was her mother who was broken if she had thrown her young kid out on the streets?
"Kaidan," his mom called for him and he struggled to decide what to do.
He wondered if he should leave the girl alone. There was a person who made his problems seem so insignificant. She was so vulnerable and so open.
She seemed to be able to read his indecision. "Go," she said softly, a ghost of a smile on her lips, "I'll be okay."
He squeezed her hand before letting go. "I hope things get better, Mimi."
As he turned to walk away, he heard her quiet voice whisper, "Goodbye...Kaidan."
His mother quickly took him by the hand and led his father and him into a private room.
That was when their suspicions were confirmed.
When they knew without a doubt.
He was a freak of nature.
He was a biotic.
