Unique

Chapter 1

• The Gathering •

  It's midnight. The place is dark and the air is dense.

  "Come!" The leader orders.

  All of them take a step closer to him. It's a gathering. People, or lets say demons, from all over the world have come. They have been waiting for this.

  A middle aged woman walks up to him. "Yes, sire"

  "We've waited long enough. I need Izert as soon as possible. Send our people to find her!" He orders sternly. He is desparate. He needs the power, he wants to rule the world.

  The people in the room scream with determination. Their ambitions match their leader's, world domination.

  "What about her mother?" A teenage boy asks loudly. The woman glares at him.

  "I will not tolerate any obstacle. If her mother comes in between me and my plan, KILL HER!" He shouts angrily. His voice echos through the large hall, and repeats in everyone's ear twice.

~

  "BESS! Wake up! It's almost time!" Mom screams her lungs out.

  Arghh. Can somebody please see the beautiful relationship I'm having here? With the bed I mean. Seriously, what's better than sleeping? There's absolutely NO point in waking up. Oh wait, there's FOOD.

  "BESS!" She screams again impatiently.

  "I'm ready! I'm coming down the stairs now!" I lazily push the cozy blanket away, realizing the importance of waking up.

  I check my phone, get ready and rush to get my books that are scattered in EVERY direction imaginable. Haha, just kidding. I rush to the kitchen, my usual destination.

  She is making breakfast. No, she's making 'nutritious' breakfast. Just like every other day. She says I need it to become strong and smart, but mostly it's because she thinks it'll make my powers stronger.

  "Mom, what are you making?" I unfortunately know the answer to that, but there's always hope.

  "Sandwiches", she replies casually. See? Like every other day. Looks like there's no hope today.

  "You got to be joking! I've been eating sandwiches as breakfast since centuries! Mom, if you change the breakfast to something better, let's say bread and nutella, I promise I'll wake up early." I try negotiating with her, even though I know it's not going to work.

  "Nutritious breakfast is very important—" I don't bother to listen the rest. I grab some chocolates from the refrigerator and run to get my books. This time for real.

  My mother is a typical mother I must say. Bess don't do this, don't do that. No partying, no late night hangovers and... no showing talents. Yes, now that's something that makes my mother different from the others. She doesn't allow me to display any of my talents. She says it will attract many people and I need to stay undercover.

  "Bess sit in the car will you?" Mom hastily comes from the kitchen, fixing her shirt. I look at my watch and run to the car. Yes, I'm already late for school.

  On my way, I admire all the beautiful flowers that fill the place. I live in Sheldon, a beautiful place filled with flowers of all kinds. The weather is always pleasant; cool breeze and a warm smiling sun. Sheldon isn't very famous, but the people here have a very warm heart.

  After 10 minutes

  Mom drops me at school. I get out and wave bye to her. After that, I start walking towards my locker to get my books. On my way, I see the jocks practicing, the nerds studying and the plastics bragging about their new shoes. Ah, typical senior year.

  "HEY!" Someone suddenly screams loud.

  I turn to see who's screaming. I spot Amorie chasing Ethan. "Give that back! Bess catch him!" Amorie shouts for my help. Not again. Amorie and Ethan love to annoy each other.

  I start running after Ethan. He tries to run to the men's washroom but Amorie and I corner him easily.

  "That's not fair!" Ethan is panting heavily, but he manages to say. "Two against one is crime!"

  "All is fair in love and war" I grin.

  "Okay this better be good." I fold my arms and turn to face Amorie. "What did Ethan do? Please tell me something that's worth my effort."

  "He took my chocolates." Amorie pouts. She knows I hate it when people steal food. You don't steal food, you earn it.

  "You did not just do that!" I snatch it from him. When I become a celebrity, I will officially declare stealing food as the biggest crime EVER.

  I always get caught in their fights and become the solution-finder, or the victim. Luckily today, I'm the solution-finder. So what do I do to solve this problem? I have to share. Unfortunately, there are only ten chocolates. Ten is not divisible by three, so one of us clearly gets to eat more. According to my calculations, I did most of the work. Problem solved.

  I break it into three parts. One for Amorie, one for Ethan and eight for me. "You're welcome."

  I don't know why they looked so angry when I shared it with them. I can almost swear I heard Ethan whisper, "Were does all that food go? She's not even fat!"

  That pissed me off, but I have to admit, that's one of the biggest mysteries of my life. Yes, just one of the many mysteries of my life.

  Amorie and Ethan are my crazy best buddies. I met them two years ago but it feels like I've known them all my life. Even though I have no siblings, I never feel that way, because Amorie and Ethan are always there for me. They know everything about me. Almost. One thing they don't know is that... I'm not a human. I have powers.

  I have the ability to make pictures real and I can also read minds. Very human, I know.

  There are many questions about my life that I ask myself at night. Mom never answers them, her only answer is, the time will come, until then, stay hidden.

  Stay hidden from what? I ask her this question so many times but she never answers it. It's very annoying sometimes. She doesn't let me free, and she also doesn't tell me the reason why. I try to console myself most of the time, that mom knows what's right and good for me. Maybe one day, I'll find out who I really am.

  We shift every two years, sometimes earlier if I get a lot of attention, that's why I'm scared as shit now. I don't want to leave Amorie and Ethan. I don't want to leave Sheldon. All those happy moments, all those memories we spent together. But there's something I've observed, every place we shift to is filled with plants. Weird.

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Picture to the right ➸ Bess Hadley