Gifted

Ch. 15 Those Damn Contacts

            Aiden awoke and his first sensation was the stinging in his eyes. The contacts burned and his eyes pleaded for him to take them out. Aiden grumbled, hurrying over to his backpack by the front door to get the case and solution. When he had, he rushed back to the bathroom connected to his bedroom, quickly getting the contacts out. Every time he blinked it caused another wave of burning fire in his eyes. When he had them off his eyes still burned, they had been oxygen deprived too long. Wiping his eyes Aiden walked back out to the living room, Isaac was yawning as he stepped out of his room on the opposite side of the apartment.

            "What's all the ruckus about?" Isaac asked, still groggy.

            "I forgot to take those darn contact lenses out before I fell asleep last night. They burned!" Aiden exclaimed, sitting on the couch.

            Isaac chuckled a little, "Well now you won't be able to where them for a while. You have to give your eyes some time to breath," Isaac explained. He grabbed the remote and turned on the large flat screen television.

            An advertisement came on. At first it was just a bright, piercing blue eye. Aiden recognized the color immediately. "The cursed," a spokesperson in a lab coat started, "at infancy appear just like any of us." An image of a "cursed" infant came up on to the screen. "However, by age five, half of the cursed population starts to display symptoms, the other half appear completely normal." An image of a deformed young child with bright blue eyes came on screen. "One thing that links the entire cursed population is there susceptibility to be hosts for infection. They do not, for the most part, catch any of these diseases, as far as we can tell, but they do spread them to healthy people like you and me. Don't take any chances, don't let diseases such as HIV, the flu, or Hepatitis C thrive in your community. President Kisinger has allowed the cursed to live in peace in Maine, make sure they all make it there."

            "And now on MSNBC we bring you today's breaking news!" The TV continued.

            "Why would he say all those things?" Aiden asked in shock.

            "To keep himself in power of course!" Isaac insisted, "Kisinger calls himself a 'President,' but how long has it been since we had an election? Too damn long I say. Almost twenty-years with no election, and it doesn't stop there! The legislative and executive branches were supposed to have limited powers over each other, but Kisinger practically owns everyone in congress now. He has ALL the power." Isaac was fuming.

            Aiden was becoming more secure by the moment in his choice to take this mission. "Well I think I'll eat some breakfast and then unpack my bag," Aiden explained, "you want to eat too?" Aiden offered.

            "No thanks. I'm not very hungry at the moment," Isaac said, watching the news.

            Aiden walked over to the kitchen. He looked in the fridge and it was empty, and then he looked in the cabinets, all empty. "Well since there's no food, I guess I'll just unpack," Aiden said as his stomach growled in protest.

            "What was that?" Isaac shouted over the news, he had turned the volume up.

            "NO FOOD!" Aiden called back.

            "OH YEAH," Isaac muted the TV, "I ordered groceries to be here this afternoon. I set them to be delivered weekly. Once you get in the swing of things I figure you won't have much time to stop and go grocery shopping.

            "Thanks," Aiden replied on his way to his room, backpack in tow. He unpacked the few clothes he had been able to fit in the backpack into a cherry wood chest of drawers. He walked across the navy colored room to open the white curtains that were over his large window. Yes, some natural light. Just like at home, Aiden thought to himself. He walked over to his closet and found many more clothes. Dress shirts, slacks, and a variety of standard and skinny ties. Aiden had never worn a tie. He was immediately grateful that he had Isaac there to help him.

            Franklin had made him book smart on the outside world, but Aiden kept on realizing that being book smart would only take him so far. He needed to become street smart, and he hoped he would prove to be a quick study.