My brother can tell the future. I'm not joking. I know, we can choose our future and do whatever we want to without worrying about stupid oracles, but he knows. You still don't believe me?
When I turned seven, my brother pulled out a lighter. 'Sarah, you see this?' he asked, setting it alight.
I nodded, and reached for it.
He pulled it back. 'Don't touch it. Don't go anywhere near it. It will hurt you, and others.' he said, staring into space. I didn't realise how odd it was that he wasn't looking at the flame anymore.
The next day, our house burnt down. Our mum was inside at the time. She didn't make it.
One year later, he told me never to go near knives. 'Knives can kill worse than fire.' he instructed.
I nodded like before, and silently swore never to touch a knife. I didn't want a repeat of the year before.
The next day, I heard the news that my brother's closest friend had been killed in an attempted robbery. The thieves had been caught out by him and, feeling desperate, murdered him. I was crying, not because he died, but because I knew my brother would never recover from that. He didn't.
It was a few years later that the worst thing happened. I was 13, and Josh (my brother) was seventeen. We'd moved schools many times over the years, as Josh and dad never could manage to settle in. Dad was still upset about mum, and Josh.... Well, Josh had just been acting so weird that no one wanted to hang out with him. Well, weirder then usual.
We were walking to my new school. Outside, on a twig fence, was written a welcome message. "Enjoy Yourself At Kingston Secondary!" it read. Josh snorted.
I turned to him. 'What's so funny?' I asked.
He looked out to the distance again. He'd been doing that a lot recently. 'You won't. Enjoy yourself, that is. None of us will. On the bright side, dad will stop moving. But we've got one more stop.'. He walked off. 'Look after yourself.'. The way he said it, it wasn't motivation. It was a warning.
I suddenly wasn't sure I wanted to go in. I breathed in, out, then summoned up all my courage and walked through the school gates.
It was lunch time. And I had no friends. In a desperate bid to not go home alone, I went up to some other kids I had seen in my class earlier. 'Um.. Hey. I'm Sarah. And you?'.
Most of them ignored me. One of them, who I think was called Jeannette, sighed. 'Look, we don't like you, and you don't like us. Stop hounding us, and I don't have to ruin your life. Get it?'.
I hated that. She couldn't ruin my life, or at least not any more then it had already been ruined. 'Oh yeah? I'm sure my brother would've warned me if someone was going to ruin my life.'. Idiot. I just told them.
There was silence. Jeanette stared at me. 'How would he know? Unless... Oh. My. God. You're not serious.'.
I laughed, but it came out sounding forced and harsh. 'Of course not! Well, I'd better go. I don't want my life destroyed again...'. I turned away, then stopped. Jeanette was calling someone on her phone.
'Hello? I've got a report on a unnatural sighting. Oh, I know where it is. Or, technically,' she said, staring right at me, 'He is.'.
I ran up, and tackled her to the ground. 'You can't! You wouldn't dare!'. I was crying now.
She moved around, struggling. 'Get off me, you freak!'. Everyone was staring at me. Some of Jeanette's friends pulled me off her, and I was left sitting down on a bench, alone.
Jeanette continued her conversation. 'Yes, officer. He's over at Kingston high. Oh, name? I'm not sure about the first name, but his last name's Corray. He's new here.'.
I tuned out of the chaos and the chat. I knew what I had to do to save Josh. It wasn't good, but it was something I needed to do. He'd lost everyone. I couldn't let him lose himself too.
I ran out the gates, still in tears. I heard teachers screaming for me, but I ignored them. They didn't know anything about what was happening. The high school wasn't too far away, but the authorities still managed to beat me there. I saw Josh being loaded into a van, handcuffed. He didn't look scared. He was neutral, as usual.
'Stop!' I screamed. 'You've got the wrong person!'. I couldn't let them take Josh. I wasn't sure how they'd treat someone unnatural or different. In most stories, they got away in time. That wasn't going to happen.
'Yeah? Then who's the oracle, then?' one of the people putting Josh in the van asked.
I breathed in, out and answered as calmly as possible. 'Me.'.
I was loaded in, Josh's eyes wide. 'Sarah... No.' he breathed as we left.
I arrived at the institute or whatever it was a while later. I was sent into a room, with only a hospital bed, a window locked from the outside (huh?) and a bunch of books.
'Experiments commence tomorrow.' I was told. At that time, I was wishing they'd start then and there. I was that bored.
'Excuse me? I saw how stood up for your brother. Pretty brave, since you aren't to blame.' a voice said.
I spun around. There was a man, with windblown blonde hair and shockingly blue eyes that almost drew you in. 'How did you know?' I asked.
He smiled. 'Never mind that. All you need to know is he's safe. We're looking after him now.'.
'Who's we?'.
'You don't need to know that either. You wanna be rescued or what?'.
This was the last stop Josh had talked about. I knew it. I nodded.'I'll go.'.
And, for once, I smiled.