Control » l.h

Chapter One

I woke up on a bed. My head was still fuzzy and I was disoriented. I blinked my eyes furiously, trying to bring my hands to my face to rub them, but they wouldn't move. I turned my head and saw my arm above me. I followed it up to the bedpost. I was tied.

I squinted my eyes. The room was dimply lit and simple. A bed, one window to my left, a drawer across from the bed, and a door next to it. There was a closet to my right, and a figure was sitting against it with their legs to their chest, their arms wrapped around them. I blinked furiously, trying to make out the figure.

"Glad you've finally come to." they said. They were definitely male.

"W-who are you?" I croaked.

"My name's Luke," he told me. "Are you okay, Jemma?"

"How do you know my name?"

"I know a lot about you, actually."

My mouth seemed to have a mind of it's own, for it kept talking when I wanted it to stop. "Are you some sort of stalker or something?"

Luke chuckled lightly. "No, I'm not a stalker. It's just...you're very important to me, Jemma."

"Why?" I questioned, starting to fight against my restraints. "What did I do? Why did you stop me from jumping? Is that what this is about?"

"Yes and no," he replied after a moment. "Do you want to hear a story?" When I didn't reply, he continued. "Once upon a time, a boy was walking down the street at night. But this boy wasn't just any boy. He was more than that. He was...superhuman, I guess you could say. Anyway, this boy wandered the streets, trying to get back home after a long day of absolutely nothing. That's when he ran into three boys who just so happened to like the necklace he was wearing. But he wasn't going to give it up. His mother gave it to him when he was born. So the group of boys started towards the other boy, throwing punches at him and kicking him until he was beaten and bloody. But the boy could do things no one else could. He had powers no one could explain. And he used them, throwing one boy into a brick wall just because he willed it to happen. Another was pushed through a wooden crate and onto his back. And the last was lifted into the air as he clawed at nothing, because that's all that was holding him up.

"Then a girl ran into this. She was petite with dark hair and big brown eyes. She looked like she couldn't hurt a fly if she wanted to. She was screaming at th eboy to stop. Pleading for him to leave the three boys alone, despite whatever they had done. And he did, to his own surprise. Does any of this sound familiar?"

It did. When he started talking about the boys being flung around by a force no one could see, it made me think of when I witnessed something like that. As my brain worked through the scene, my mouth reported what had happened.

"I saw this tall, blond boy," I began in almost a whisper. "He was surrounded by these three guys. I wanted to just keep walking, but one of them suddenly flew into a building. Another went in the opposite direction, breaking a crate and landing on his back. And the third began to elevate. He was lifted into the air, but I couldn't see how. The blond in the middle was raising his hand as the other boy went up. I walked around to the front of the blond to see his eyes were glowing white. I pulled on his arm and begged him to stop. He was going to kill him if he didn't. His eyes dimmed and he dropped his arm, the other boy falling to the ground like a stone. The blond looked at me softly, taking the hand still on his arm. Then he backed away and ran. I did the same once he was gone."

Luke stayed silent for a moment, me reliving the memory I had tried to lock away in the back of my head. He finally rose to his feet, but slowly. He walked toward me and sat down on the bed. I could see his face now that he wasn't sitting in the shadow of the lamps. His blond hair was tousled up, styled neatly but also casually. His blue eyes stared into mine. They didn't look menacing, but rather caring and protective. He gave a small smile as I gaped at him. As he laid a hand where my knee was, his eyes dimly glowed white.

"You were him." I whispered.

"You were her." he responded.