Wings

Chapter Four

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"What happened to you hand," Gabby asks the next day.

I look down at my hand and pull my sweater sleeve down to cover it up. "Um, you know I can't remember," I respond.

"What'd you do, get in a fight," she says examining my forehead.

I chuckle at Gabby's joke. "I can't remember. I probably fell."

"You don't want to stand too close to her, Gabby," Derek says as he walks past our table. My body tenses as soon as he makes his annoying presence known.

"You might catch her crazy." Derek looks directly at me when he says this, as if he's waiting for a response.

Gabby turns back to me. "I don't think you're crazy. I think you're... different," she says with a bright smile.

"Sure," Derek snickers.

"Go screw yourself," Gabby says fiercely.

A cocky smile appears on Derek's lips. "Gladly."

"Ugh, why doesn't he just shut up already?" And with that thought, Derek suddenly drops to the floor.

The entire class gasps in unison and Gabby shrieks. The lab teacher rushes to the scene and rests her hand on Derek's chest. "He's having trouble breathing," she mumbles under her breath.

I realize my hands are still clenched into fists from earlier. It's just that Derek makes me so angry, just thinking about him makes my body stiffen. I relax myself and try to focus on the fact that Derek could very well be dying, whether I want him to or not.

Once I relax, so does Derek. He takes a big breath for air and begins to cough. He acts as if his body had just been pulled out of water.

"What the hell was that, Derek," Gabby exclaims.

Derek looks past her at me and frowns. Don't look at me, I didn't do anything wrong.

There is no way I could've done this to him. He must've... had an allergic reaction or something.

Of course, that's what I would like to believe.

***

"Mom, I need to talk to you," I announce to my mother when she comes home from work. She knows by the look on my face that I'm serious and stops to listen. I continue,

"I honestly don't really know where to start I mean, a lot of things have been happening to me lately and... and I'm scared."

"What do you mean, Kat," Mom asks.

"What I mean is that I can't help but feel like I'm not normal. Like I don't belong here." It took all the courage I could muster to say those words.

I've always felt that I wasn't the same as everybody else growing up and now with monsters popping up everywhere I go and people collapsing when I'm angry, it's bringing up a lot of questions about myself.

Mom puts her hand on my shoulder. "Kat I think it's, what's the word I'm looking for, OK that you think you have this power-"

I interrupt her, "It's not a power, it's- I don't know how to explain it."

Mom just stares at me. "Do you think I'm crazy, Mom," I finally ask.

Mom sort of chuckles. "What? No, of course not."

"Well, that's what everyone else says. That's how I feel sometimes. I feel like I'm going insane." I grope the back of my neck.

"Katheryn," Mom says. I know she's trying to comfort me but as of now, I'm not in the mood to hear it.

"Just forget it," I mumble.

"Kat, let me help you," Mom urges. "Please. It kills me to see my baby like this."

"I just want answers Mom," I say. "To everything. Like what happened when you adopted me?"

"Katheryn, I've told you this story before. Are you sure you want to hear it again?"

"Absolutely."

She sighs before she starts, "Well I knew I always wanted a baby ever since I was a teen. I guess I just wanted a natural, unconditional kind of love. Sadly, I wasn't able to conceive so I did the next best thing, which was adoption.

I went to an orphanage and I wasn't even thinking adopting a girl, I was actually going for a little boy. But when I saw you, I didn't know what came over me. Maybe it was your crazy red hair or your huge brown eyes? I don't know, but when I saw you I knew you had to be mine.

You were playing with blocks all by yourself. Mary, she was the woman that watched the kids, she told me your name was Katheryn Luna and you weren't that social around other kids. I called your name, you turned to look at me, and you came running towards me. You held me so tight. I remember feeling your warm baby skin.

The next day, I took you home with me. I gave you my last name and you've been calling me mommy ever since."

Well, that was a complete waste of my time.

I thought her story would help me figure out my nightmares and why I had them so frequently. Or why Mom was the only person I went to when I was a baby or why my middle name is Luna.

I'm just back to where I started. "Thanks Mom that really helped," I say with a smile.