Forgotten Spark

Chapter 3

"Who are you, again?" I gasped as I was dragged behind the the almost-adult. Now that I could get a better look at him, I saw that he was extremely muscled, as if he lifted weights every day. He had sandy-blond hair, and he looked to be only seventeen or eighteen. Of course, that was older than me, but still younger than I expected considering his strength. He had weird tattoos on his arms that, if I looked close enough, looked familiar.

Not long after I woke up from my coma, I noticed some strange marks on my arms. They looked like some sort of tree roots making their way up and down my arms. They were also on my chest and back. Dr. Francis called them Lichtenberg Figures. He also said that they often showed up on people who'd been struck by lightning. "Was that what hurt my head?" I'd asked. Dr. Francis said no. Apparently the figures on my arms looked to be older, so it must have happened long before the accident. Though I was sure his were tattoos, the marks on this guy's arms looked practically identical.

He didn't even slow down. "You really don't remember me?" He sounded like he hoped to get a different answer.

"Not a clue!" I panted. "And can you slow down a little? I just got out of the hospital, and I'm still--"

He stopped, mid-track. "The hospital? Dude, what were you doing in a hospital?" His eyes were wide in shock.

"Um, recovering from a head injury..." I said slowly, still trying to catch my breath. "I was found bleeding in the middle of the street, like seven months ago, so I had to have surgery, which put me in a coma for a long time, and when I woke up, I couldn't remember any--"

"So that's why you disappeared," he said softly.

"What?"

He shook his head. "There'll be time for that later. Let's just get to the others." Before he took off again, he turned back. "I guess I should tell you, I'm Jack."

______

When we got there, I was completely exhausted. The only sleep I'd gotten in the last several days had been in the buses, and I'd just walked for a few hours to get here, not to mention the wandering, then I was forced to sprint, like, a mile to where we were going. I really just wanted to sit down.

Jack, the body-builder, led me to an empty parking lot, except for one car in the very back. It was a sleek, black _____*fancy official car insert*___, with tinted windows.

"Is this suppose to make me less suspicious?" I said, raising an eyebrow. "How do I know if you're actually on my side? I mean, the first time I saw you today, you practically tried to strangle me!"

"Yeah," he said, rubbing the back of his neck, "sorry about that. I thought it'd be a funny joke, ya know, since we have seen each other in a long time. Then you told me you'd lost your memories, and...yeah, I feel really bad about that now." He did look guilty. He took a deep breath. "Well, we'd better get going. I'll try to explain things to you on the way."

I laughed, "You'll need all night to do that." Jack just smiled at me. "Wait, we're not going to drive all night, are we? I just got done with, like, three days in stinky buses! I'm a little exhausted!" Jack got into the car without saying anything, the sly smile still on his face. I groaned and got into the car.

As I climbed in, Jack handed me a soda. "Care for a Sprite? I don't have anything else at the moment."

I took the Sprite from him, and buckled my seatbelt. "So, how did we meet?"

Jack laughed, "That would not give you the right impression of me." Then he looked at me with deep emotion (gratitude?) in his eyes. "Since I became your friend, I'm a whole different person."

He told me about how he was the feared bully at our high school, and how I was his main victim, because of my size. The important part was when he thought I had ratted him out, and he and his friends tried to pants me. "That's when you electrocuted me," he said, "After that, I was really scared of you, so I kind of avoided you." He laughed.

"Wait," I stopped him. "I electrocuted you? How? Did I have a taser, or something?"

"You mean, you don't remember that, either? And you haven't found out? Wow, good thing I was the one to come get you," he muttered the last part under his breath.

"What? Found out what? I really wish you'd just tell me stuff, instead of being surprised."

"Michael, you're electric!" I eyed him. "No! It's true! You have electricity running through your body right now!"

I scoffed, "Of course, I do. Everyone does! The brainwaves, and all that?" Strange how I could remember the strangest of intellectual facts, but not have a clue what this person sitting next to me had to do with my life.

Jack rolled his eyes, "Ugh, you sound like Ostin! I know everyone has that kind of electricity, but you have more!" Jack became more animated and excited. "You can do things other people can't! You can throw lightning balls, and deliver fatal shocks to enemies (though you try not to kill anyone), you can get magnets to stick to you and deflect bullets!" His voice got lower. "Sometimes, when there's enough electricity, you can read people's minds!"

I was thoroughly blown away. I took a breath and looked away in disbelief. Could I really do all that stuff? Could I really dodge bullets? Why hadn't I discovered this before? Dr. Francis would have told me if he had found anything, right? I guess they just didn't have the right equipment to detect that kind of stuff. Nothing made sense anymore.

"So, where exactly are we going?"

Jack smiled. "To the headquarters of the resistance. That's where we'll see the others, too."

"The others?"

"Yep, the rest of the Electroclan. The people who have been with us since the very beginning. Originally, it was a little club, with you as the president. After you disappeared, though...." he trailed off.

"Why was the club organized?" I wondered, distracting him from what must have been a painful memory. Pain that I caused him, by disappearing. How many others suffered because of me?

I jolted back to reality when Jack said, "The Electroclan was formed for people like you, though others were allowed in, like me."

I swear he was just enjoying messing with me, now. "People like me?" I prompted.

He leaned forward. "Electric people."